In contrast, Rita is a working class hairdresser from Liverpool who decides to take on an English Open University Course to discover herself and to improve her way of life. In the first scene Rita bursts into Franks office and this has a dramatic effect. Rita has a good sense of humour, which keeps the play more interesting at the beginning. She is also assertive, however she sometimes puts herself down because of her lack of formal education. Rita's language is full of slang and swearing. “So y’ switch it off an’ say, that’s fuckin’ rubbish.” Rita believes that the course she is doing will be the key to changing her life.
The relationship between Frank and Rita starts at a teacher pupil basis, Rita begins the relationship with high expectations, she assumes that Frank “the lecturer” will have all the answers and this comes from the fact that she isn’t educated, she doesn't come from an educated background. However Rita tests Franks intellectual talents to the full. She always wants an explanation and justification for everything he says.
Frank and Rita get on so well because they are different. To Frank Rita is like a “breath of fresh air“, very natural and down to earth, compared to Frank who is a disillusioned, apathetic, battered university lecturer. But they are both unhappy about the situation that they are in. Rita has a failing marriage with a husband that wants her to have a baby, and Frank his unhappy with everything in his life.
However Rita’s freshness and appetite for learning and knowledge inspires Frank, he also finds her attractive, intelligent and he enjoys her company. So he invites Rita to his dinner party, he also feels that she will enjoy meeting new people; he never thinks how Rita would really feel being surrounded by middle class educated people. Rita on the other hand is partly excited about it and also apprehensive. In the end Rita does not go to the party because she thinks she brought the wrong wine, or so she said, and would not be able to converse with Franks middle class friends at their level.
“But I don’t wanna be charming and delightful: funny, what’s funny? I don’t wanna be funny, I wanna talk seriously with the rest of you, I don’t wanna spend the night taking the piss, comin’ on with the funnies because that’s the only way I can get into the conversation. I don’t want to come to your house just to play the court jester.”
She thinks that she is a “half-caste” stuck between working and middle class, not quite fitting into either.
For Rita Act One ends on a very negative note, her marriage is finished. This came about because Rita’s husband Denny wanted a baby and Rita did not, also Denny wanted Rita to stop going to the O.U course. Denny gives an ultimatum do as he says or leave.
Frank and Rita both know that Rita will have to change to be able to write essays that will pass an examination. This will affect the relationship because Frank doesn’t want to change Rita but Rita wants Frank to help change her, so it is inevitable that there would be a clash of wills.
When Rita comes back from the O.U summer school she is more mature. Frank however is surprised that Rita has changed this much.
Rita has gained a larger vocabulary at the summer school and begins to speak more objectively which is what Frank described the language of education to be.
“Well any analogy will break down eventually.”
The relationship has developed from the original teacher pupil status to a firm friendship that, as Frank knows, will inevitably have to end.
Trish's is Rita’s flat mate and has a large influence on Rita; this is shown when Trish tells Rita to talk in Standard English, which she does (to Frank’s annoyance). Trish’s influence also cause’s Rita to gain confidence, so Rita begins to talk to the “proper” students.
Rita, “ Yeh, I got here early today. I started talking to some students down on the lawn.”
Frank, “You were talking to students down there?”
During Act 2 it is shown that, as Rita’s life becomes better Frank’s is becoming worse. He enters scene 3 drunk, after students had complained about him being drunk in a lecture. Rita on the other hand is becoming more educated.
Towards the end of the play Rita says that she doesn’t need Frank, that she didn’t need to hold his hand anymore. This shows that Rita is becoming more independent from Frank, this distanced the pair. Frank asks if Rita wants to stop coming to the tutorials because even without him she would sail through the exam. The audience feels sorry for Frank all through this scene.
The end of scene 6 is a low point in the relationship because Rita and Frank aren’t in direct contact with each other and so the relationship is deteriorating.
Frank at the end of the play is being sent to Australia for his “crimes” and he is still apathetic about the whole affair. Rita however is slightly more depressed with the attempted suicide of her flatmate and Frank leaving. Rita changing her name back to Susan is significant because it shows how she has grown up over the course of the play and that she now knows that changing her name was a silly thing to do.
Frank is going to Australia for repeated drinking on campus and his punishment is reduced from the sack to a sabbatical to Australia. Rita plans to either go to France with Tyson, go to her mothers for Christmas or have a baby. These choices reveal that she is still indecisive. I think Russell’s message is that however well together people seem you can’t really tell what’s going on inside. For example, you could be a well paid businessman or woman who has a spouse, 2 kids, car and a roof over your heads a perfect life, and still want to kill yourself. The play ends on a happy note with a sad undertone. With the friendship between Frank and Rita back to normal, but with Frank’s leaving and Trish’s suicide attempt ending it as a mix of the two.
Russell uses humour to soften the blow that could be caused by tackling class, political and social issues, and the different ways the different classes deal with these issues. The first part of the play is funnier because the differences between Frank and Rita are more prominent. The play ends on a funny note with Rita giving Frank a haircut and cutting him.
“She goes across to him and begins to cut his hair. As she gets close to his ear-lobe Frank cries out ‘Ouch”
