In terms of her relation to the character of Frank and the way that the actors interact on the stage, the actress playing Rita needs to act unintimidated, open, genuine, sociable, friendly and also looking up to Frank as he is the one that she wishes to learn everything from. I think that they both see qualities in each other, i.e. Frank does not want to ruin Rita’s uniqueness.
A key moment in the scene, which reveals Rita’s character at this stage in the play is when she says, “Well that’s no good always meanin to is it? Y’ should get on with it…An’ you wont be able to get out”. Here I think that the actress should stumble in, shaking her head and hands about and then finally focusing on Frank and going still and begins to take notice or her new surroundings. I want her to show confidence, humour and a chatty, inquisitive nature.
Another key moment in the scene is when she realises the picture that Frank has not really looked at in 10yrs. This is important because she is opening his eyes, it shows the idea that she will be helping him throughout the play as he will help her. They are ‘teaching’ each other. It is revealing of her character.
Throughout Act 1 witnesses the gradual step by step development of Rita to the point where she fits in more with the world of the academics, but on the other hand the second act shows Franks increasing alienation from the world of the academics, with this eventually leading to the university having him sent away to Australia. The great antithesis of the play is that the more Rita becomes educated, the less she needs Frank and the more this leads to a relationship of conflict. This is shown strongly at the end of act2 scene5 where Frank says to Rita, “found a better song to sing have you? No- you’ve found a different song, that’s all – and on your lips it’s shrill and hollow and tuneless…” She then mentions that no one apart from Frank calls her Rita anymore. He responds “what is it now then? Virginia? Or Charlotte? Or Jane? Or Emily?” all of which are names of famous authors, educated people.
After the interval and the summer course, and her success on it. Rita’s appears to be a changed character. She now seems to take the place that Frank held at the beginning of the play, and due to this Frank’s attempts to choose a poet for Rita to study backfires on him, as Rita announces to Frank that she has already studied Blake on her summer course. She even recites to him The Sick Rose off by heart. From this point on it is Frank that is the one having problems as Rita is moving from strength to strength.
The final few scenes of the play reflect the increasing sense of place. The scenes become shorter than they were prior to this and there is an undisputable feeling that time has elapsed in the build up towards Rita’s examination.
Many themes run through this play. One that features highly throughout is that of incompleteness, as in terms of their characters both Frank and Rita show a strong sense of incompleteness. Rita in particular is driven by the need to learn and be educated, after having come to realise that life has nothing else to offer her except for her mundane existence working in a hairdressers. She is twenty-six years old and she is feeling “out of step”; she mentions to frank how she feels she would need to discover herself before considering having a baby with Denny. This costs Rita her marriage, her job and her friends.
Even though Frank suggests that her education has not lead her to find “a better song to sing”, merely “a different song”. But rather than necessarily achieving a better life she has, at the end of the play, turned out as a more rounded character, possessing the knowledge, skills and character to make her own choices and decisions in life. She has found herself, you can see this when Frank asks her what she is going to do next and she replies “…I might go to France. I might go to me mothers. I might even have a baby (< indicates she’s found herself). I dunno. I’ll make a decision, I’ll choose…”
Frank also seems to have something missing from his life. His poor teaching that the majority of his students have to endure is the result of his rather jaded outlook, which also blocks his poetic creativity. He seeks comfort in all his problems with whisky, like for example, being already divorced from his wife and his relationship with Julia doesn’t seem to appear like it will last the distance either. But unlike Rita who in the play manages to find a sense of completeness, Frank does not achieve this. On the other hand, he does have some hope for the future in the form of a new life in Australia where things are “just beginning”.
There is also Rita’s family who all seek to drown and find an escape their problems through alcohol. The happiness and unity of the family unit is suggested by the sing-song in the pub on Saturday night; but the reality of this is very different. Their laughter and smiles is merely a mask, covering up the painful knowledge that they are leading incomplete and unfulfilled lives. Denny is acceptant of this way of life and doesn’t agree with Rita’s search for herself, he “thinks we’ve got choice because we can go into a pub that sells eight different types of lager”. But Rita’s mother shows that she has gained a state of self-knowledge when she breaks down in tears, her reason being that they “could sing better songs than those”. This spurs Rita on to carry on her education, it’s why she came back and why she decides to stay. She doesn’t want to end up like her mother. She wants to succeed.
When she was at school as a child, studying was seen as “just for the wimps”. She finds her way onto an Open University as a direct result of her failure at school. She realises that she would have become different from her friends if she had taken school seriously and at the time she therefore thought the safe option was to be like her friends as not to loose them. She didn’t want to be the odd one out the “wimp”. But after having, to a certain extent, broken free from that kind of peer pressure she is able to return to her education. In her second attempt she comes to show herself as a very enthusiastic and highly motivated student, and it is this enthusiasm and motivation which helps her to succeed with her education this time round. At first though she has a very idealised image of what “proper students” are like; and she does not feel she belongs to this. Whereas Frank provides her with a very different description that totally contrasts Rita’s. “Proper students don’t read and study”; he describes them as “appalling” scholars who “wouldn’t know a poet if you beat them about the head with one”. And it is because of Rita’s strong desire to change her path in life that she becomes set apart from the other students and this places a lot of pressure on Frank. Rita’s wishes to learn “everything” and Frank doesn’t feel he can provide her with this. He believes himself to be an “appalling teacher”. He says how most of the time this is fine for his appalling students as they can manage without him. But not for her, because she is different. She wants a lot and he doesn’t think he can give that to her. Frank knows that Rita deserves better. But Rita goes on to decline his offer to find another tutor as she feels that their compatibility will be of high importance. Frank can’t understand why she wants him. Her reply is because he is “a crazy mad piss artist who wants to throw his students through the window” and she likes him. It is the strength of their relationship that enables Rita to develop into a great student.
It is when we get to the end of Act2 that we really begin to notice the changes that have happened to the character of Rita.
For Rita this education is a way of releasing herself from the unfulfilling lifestyle she is living and that her family and friends are leading; and to find herself and a better way of life. In the last scene, after she has passed her examination, she begins to recognise the reality. That it could have all been totally worthless in the end and therefore may not greatly change her life in any way at all, but one thing she has gained is the power of choice. She is able to make more decisions in her own life and become who she wants to be. These are not trivial choices like Denny choosing between eight different types of lager down the pub, but real major choices that could affect the whole direction that her life takes. She has a number of opportunities open to her. She can either, go and make a fresh start in Australia with Frank, carry on working in the bistro, return to her old job at the hairdressers or she could choose something totally different. Like having a baby for example, now that she has ‘found herself’. But the point is it’s her decision, she has become a woman who is able to make wise and informed choices about the direction that her life will take from this point on.