The first time we hear frank speak in the play he is speaking on the phone. From this it shows that he seems slightly bored with the person on the other end (presumably his girlfriend/partner) and he also patronises her slightly “because, darling, I like my lamb done to the point of abuse and even I know that ratatouille cannot be burned…” he speaks in a posh voice and immediately implies he is upper class and knowledgeable about food and speaks in a very intellectual way. Willy Russell wishes that by doing this the audience can try and interpret his personality and social class before he even speaks to Rita. In that quote he is almost teasing her here, which shows he has a very dry sense of humour and is very dismissive of this woman. Willy Russell wants to make it clear that Frank going to the pub is a regular occasion so he uses this phone call to show the audience straight away “I shall need to go to the pub afterwards”; this quote shows that Frank sometimes relies on the pub. Similarly he has the same negative perception towards the Open University “I shall need to wash away the memory of some silly woman’s attempts to get into the minds of Henry James”, here he implies that only uneducated lower class people would go and that he didn’t enjoy teaching it, Willy Russell said this as then it would be a large contrast at the end of the play and the whole audience know how much Rita’s attitude has changed Franks views on working class culture. However, this particular quotation could be perceived as ironic as it says how Frank would rather go to the pub rather than have dinner with his partner which means he would rather endure lower class culture than middle class culture even though he previously expressed negative views on it which could imply that Frank is bored and unhappy with life.
Willy Russell first introduces Rita in a very dramatic manner. Rita bursts in very loudly and blames her clumsy entrance on the door handle. This entrance shows how carefree, confident and outgoing she is, she also says “it’s that stupid bleeding door handle you wanna get it fixed”,
She instantly uses ‘common’ language and seems almost angry the way she reacts to this shows she doesn’t handle situations well and also that she doesn’t know how to react to teachers or figures of authority and that she is very grounded within herself and doesn’t have a clue about the lower class impression she is imprinting on people and obviously isn’t generally around people like Frank so she has never been in that kind of social situation to know how to react towards him so she just treats him as she would anyone else which shows the innocence and naïve characteristics which Frank admired so much in her. However at his point Frank seemed slightly nonplussed about the whole situation and when Rita tells Frank he needs to get it fixed he replies with “erm, yes, I suppose I always mean to”,
I think he replies with this as it is the start of Rita’s subconscious control influence and control over him, it shows throughout the play for example how she persuades him to teach her even though he doesn’t want to, however he could have just been overwhelmed with her entrance. Shortly after this they have their first misunderstanding over something as simple as Rita’s name Frank uses the phrase “you are”, to ask her, her name and Rita is not used to using this language structure and therefore becomes confused.
A lot is revealed about Rita when she and Frank discuss a piece of art in Franks study. This is a part of the play where social class and the educational differences of Frank and Rita is very apparent, however at the same time Rita’s hunger for knowledge and fresh original viewpoint becomes clear “it’s very erotic”, this shows how Rita is very blunt in her way of expressing her opinion which again could be traced back to social class as the way she has been brought up it is acceptable to express your viewpoint in an almost rude way without it being offensive where as In a more upper class social situation people tend to tread carefully and think a lot about how they are going to put forward their view so as not to offend people and to sound as intelligent as possible, it could also be down to her lack of education and how she has a fresh viewpoint and she doesn’t try and find complex explanations for things. This is also shown later in the play when Rita writes a one sentence answer to an university essay question, she answers “do it on the radio”, to a question regarding ‘Peer Gynt’. Frank however clearly sees the ‘deeper meaning’ of the paintings. Frank admires Rita’s blunt way of going around things and describes her as a ‘breath of fresh air’ and appreciates her unique flare of looking at things. I think Rita changed Frank’s way of thinking as he thinks Rita’s interpretation of assonance is fantastic, in a way Rita introduces Frank to a simple way of thinking and visa versa.
The scene also makes the cultural differences between Frank and Rita very clear. Willy Russell shows this by associating Rita with popular culture. To capture the audiences’ attention he creates a humorous misunderstanding between Frank and Rita over ‘Yates’ Rita thinks this is a wine lodge where as Frank is referring to a famous poet “do you know Yates?”
“Yates the wine lodge?”
This is also funny and effective because Willy Russell aimed this play at both upper and lower class so this is something both classes can relate to and it is again relating to modern situations as apposed to ‘old fashioned’ situations which helps add to how unique the play is.
In conclusion the first scene of the play is very effective and Willy Russell gains the interest of the play in many ways. It shows how education is usually linked to social class; the audience is entertained by humorous misunderstandings for example later in the plat Rita uses the phrase “off your cake,”
Frank finds this hilarious which shows that Rita is in fact teaching Frank a considerable amount about common culture. As the play progresses the relationship between Frank and Rita strengthens and they become more alike and are both branded as outcasts from their social class.
