Explain how Willy Russell has made the opening scene dramatic and entertaining. In what way is the scene a good introduction to the play's main characters and themes?
Explain how Willy Russell has made the opening scene dramatic and entertaining. In what way is the scene a good introduction to the play's main characters and themes? The opening scene to a play is very important because it introduces the audience to the main characters and it has to be interesting and entertaining so that it can draw the audience in to the play. The opening scene to Educating Rita is the same. Willy Russell makes the opening scene dramatic and entertaining and introduces the main theme and characters. He does this by using stage directions, language and character misunderstandings. The uses of stage directions make the scene entertaining and dramatic. An example of this is: Frank: Promise Rita: (Doing a Brownie salute) on my oath as an ex Brownie. Another example is: (The telephone rings and startles him slightly. He manages to gulp at the whisky before he picks up the receiver and although his speech is not slurred, we should recognize the voice of a man who shifts a lot of booze) These are a few of the many stage directions that make the play entertaining. Frank uses a lot of irony through out the scene. An example of this is "Flora? Flowers?" Another example is: Rita: I wouldn't go an live in Formby. I hate that hole, don't you? Frank: Yes Rita: Where do you live? Frank: Formby These are a few examples of Frank's irony through out the play.
How Does Willy Russell Maintain The Audiences Interest Throughout Blood Brothers When We Are Told The Ending In The Prologue?
How Does Willy Russell Maintain The Audiences Interest Throughout Blood Brothers When We Are Told The Ending In The Prologue? "Blood Brothers" is set in Liverpool in the early eighties. The play follows the life of two main characters: Eddie Lyons and Mickey Johnstone. In this play the two main characters are biological twin brothers, who are separated at birth due to the fact that their mother, Mrs Johnstone, cannot afford to bring them both up since she already has seven children and can barely support her family. So Mrs Lyons offers that she adopt one to her because she is too infertile to have her own, and she desperately wants a child. Reluctantly Mrs Johnstone agrees and when they are born one is passed over to Mrs Lyons, bearing in mind that her husband is away for nine months and does not know she is adopting. He disagrees with this approach because he feels the child is not his own. So Mrs Lyons pretends to be pregnant and when he returns says that it is theirs. The boys grow up, one in a working class family the other in a middle class, Eddie is considerably more well off than Mickey. Though the boys have very different upbringings and personalities they both yearn to be like one another, this is shown in the song "My Friend." There is a bond between the boys yet they are unaware of it. Their lives are quite parallel, the same events are happening at relatively the
How does Russell present the metamorphosis of his character Rita in Educating Rita? Discuss the dramatic impact of the change on you, the audience.
How does Russell present the metamorphosis of his character Rita in Educating Rita? Discuss the dramatic impact of the change on you, the audience Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell. It tells the story of Frank and Rita, two characters involved for the whole duration of the play. Although there are many other people that are important in the play, Educating Rita focuses mainly on Frank, a university professor and Rita, a hairdresser who wants an education. The title of the play, "Educating Rita", seems to speak for itself, but it has many different ideas and meanings behind it. During the course of the play, we learn more about the two characters and we see how their relationship develops. When Rita enters the play as a typical young, working class girl which is shown by her appearance (a small tight skirt, blouse and high heels). She has a deep aspiration to change her life. Not just to make new friends, or become educated, she wants to leave most of her entire past life behind and make a completely fresh start. When Rita first goes to see Frank, she barges through the door, at first complaining about the state of the door handle, to Frank. "I'm comin in, aren't I? It's that stupid bleedin handle on the door. You wanna get it fixed!" Russell spells Rita's language as it is said to portray her strong accent. From Rita's entrance it surprised us. It is
A letter to Frank from Eveline.
Dear Frank, I am deeply sorry for what I have done to you. I know that there is no excuse for what I did, leaving you so suddenly at the boat. Especially after all the trouble you went to, making it possible so that we could be together. I can only explain the reasons for my actions, and hope that you will understand. I spent the evening, of the day that we were due to leave, sitting by the window, gazing out at my memories. As I stared at the new houses across the street, I saw the old field that used to be there. I was playing there with my old friends; I was young, careless and free. I was devastated when they built houses on top of our field, my past. Time may have moved on, but I still long to be there. I grasp the past, like a young child that grasps their mother. I fear change, and as long as I feel this way, I will never, of my own accord, be able to leave my home. My life, in my home, is not over. My whole life is contained within these walls. At the moment, my history is what I live for. I couldn't just pack my bags and leave. I waited, and I waited for a sign. A sign that it was time to leave, but I was given nothing that would persuade me to go. I feel that if I left, I would be leaving things undone. There's a picture that hangs on our wall, it is very old and yellowed in colour, and it is a picture of a priest, who was an old friend that my
Educating Rita - summary.
Educating Rita Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell, it is set in Liverpool in the early 80's. It is written to highlight the difference in class between an upper class lecturer, and a working class student. The play shows how Rita changes her class, but perhaps also loses some of her values due to the class change. Willy Russell uses Rita to explore the theme of educating; it also shows a woman going onto further education, something that was not common it the time the play was written. In the first act, Rita is presented as a working class woman, brought up in a working class environment. She has a strong Liverpool accent, and a typical Liverpool dry sense of humour, emphasising her working class existence. Rita and Frank contrast greatly, Frank is a well-educated upper class lecturer who is well spoken,' I think it is beautiful', Rita uses colloquial language is stress that she is working class,' that's fucking rubbish', these are strong bold words which shock the audience and help them to see the huge changes Rita goes through during the play. During the first scene Rita is dependant on Frank completely, she needs him to educate her, 'I've not half got a lot to learn.' and therefore is totally dependant upon him. This changes as the play progresses, and Rita becomes less reliant on Frank, and Frank becomes more reliant on Rita. This continues right
Describe the progress of Rita's education - What effect does becoming educated have on Rita and those closest to her?
Describe the progress of Rita's education . What effect does becoming educated have on Rita and those closest to her? Rita is a working class, uneducated woman. She wants to become educated to get away from the "working class culture" and to know "what wine to buy". During her education, at the Open University, Rita goes through three stages of development. Stage One commences when Rita first meets Frank and takes her up until she goes to summer school. The second stage occurs after Rita has returned from summer school where she became more confident and began to make friends. The third stage begins after Trish's (Rita's flat mate) suicide attempt. Rita's quest to become educated affects those closest to her, Frank (Rita's tutor) and Denny (Rita's husband), often in a negative way. Rita is poorly educated, works as a hairdresser and lives on a council estate. Rita was not interested in education when she was at school because it was "borin'" and there were "ripped -up books, broken glass everywhere, knifes an' fights." All Rita's peers thought "... studyin' was just for wimps, wasn't it?" Yet despite this attitude Rita realized that she "... might have got it all wrong," hence her desire to join the Open University. Rita's family expected her to leave school, get married, have a baby and be a housewife, so her expectations of herself were limited. Nevertheless, she is a
Discuss the portrayal of metamorphicic in Educating Rita. Which character changes teh most?
DISCUSS THE PORTRAYAL OF METAMORPHOSIS IN WILLY RUSSELL'S EDUCATING RITA. WHICH CHARACTER CHANGES THE MOST? Educating Rita was a play written by Willy Russell in 1980. Willy Russell was born in Whiston near Liverpool and left school at 15. He then decided to take 'O' and 'A' levels and became a teacher. However, once he saw John McGrath's play 'Unruly Elements' he wanted to become a playwright. He has written plays and musicals like Stags and Hens, Blood Brothers and Educating Rita. Russell's mother then suggested that he should become a ladies hairdresser. This makes him use his experiences of hairdressing and teaching in the play. Educating Rita is a play about a 26 year old working class woman (Rita) wanting to be educated literature as she enjoys reading. Her teacher (Frank) is an alcoholic smoker and has lost the love of teaching until Rita tries to change him. The working class in the 1970's expected people to leave school at fifteen and become a lower class occupation like hairdressing or building. Women were expected to have a baby as soon as possible and were expected to stay at home and look after the family while the man worked. Rita broke away from the restrictions and expectations of her husband by doing the Open University course. Rita also tried to change this by using contraception when she was meant to be having a baby. The upper class were expected to do
Explain how Willy Russell intends us to respond to the charters Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs
Mrs Kay is a very easy going teacher but the children still respect her because she cares about the children and tries to help them to learn to read and write. Mr Briggs is strict and believes that children come to school to learn and that the children should respect teachers. He also believes that the only way to teaching is with strict discipline. At the start of the play Willy Russell intends us to see Mrs Kay as a caring and friendly and informal. However he suggests that this is the wrong approach. She has asked them to call them Helen but they still call her Mrs Kay this means they don't see her as a equal. On the coach she sits next to Carol. The stage directions tell us "Carol has arms linked through Mrs Kay's and snuggled up they look more like mother and daughter than pupil and teacher." Russell intends use to see that this is not right no children link arms with their teachers. Mrs Kay is on the children's side as she lies to the driver about the children never having any sweets to stop them form getting told off for having sweets, She says " Ronny these kids with me today don't know what is to look at a bar of chocolate." We feel that she has the children at heart but we feel uncomfortable as she is lying to another adult which we do not expect her to do. Mrs Kay understands the difficulties the pupils in the progress classes are going through because
By What Means Does Willy Russell Engage Our Sympathy For Shirley In The Opening Part Of The Play?
By What Means Does Willy Russell Engage Our Sympathy For Shirley In The Opening Part Of The Play? In the opening part of the play feeling sympathy for Shirley is a regular occurrence expressed through loneliness, regret, unhappiness and humour. This only being a minority of the feelings Shirley feels. We find Shirley to be a humorous and genile person looking for a more easyer and comfortable way of life. We feel sympathy for Shirley when her sadness is expressed as insecurity. "Even though her name was changed to Bradshaw she was still Shirley Valentine." This shows how she was changed into something she did not want to be and how she regrets marrying Joe. Shirley has an ability to make humour out of what may be at discomfort to her. Maybe the marriage to Joe is an example of this. Shirley's life becomes jaded and boring, as her life seemed to go down hill after marrying Joe. "They say don't they...I felt like that at twenty-five". It seems as though Shirley was cheated out fifteen years in her life, which creates sympathy for Shirley. Shirley finds it hard to make friends and to socialize with others. "I haven't known Jane all that long, but she's great." Shows this and Shirley is troubled when she hears that Jane is going to Greece for two weeks. Shirley was accused of being a cheat at school when she was not. "YOU, she yelled you must have been told that answer." This
Compare two/three scenes showing how the writer creates contrasting dramatic effects
Compare two/three scenes showing how the writer creates contrasting dramatic effects 'Our day out' is a comedy in which a group of Liverpool school children is taken on a trip to North Wales. There is a lot of fun and many of the scenes make us laugh such as the zoo scene and the fair scene. Some of the characters are funny some are kind and some are very mean. The characters use slang language. These are based on author's own experience. Many things happen on the beach scenes such as teacher's and children playing football. Children running, screaming paddling, shouting, laughing and even the teacher Susan pretends to seduce Reily and the kids spy on Susan and Reily: "Susan- I'm all yours...handsome...! Reilly- Don't mess, miss Susan-(putting her arm around him) I'm not messing big boy I'm serious!" The effect on the audience will be does the teacher fancy Reily and if she does is she going to do anything and is Reily just going to stand there and watch. In this part of the beach scene Mr Briggs sits alone on a rock away from the children which tells us he doesn't care about the children and he doesn't want to know them or understand them. "Briggs sits on a rock apart from the main group" The most frequent dramatic effecting this scene is laughter. It makes the audience laugh when Mrs Kay is playing football with the children, when Mrs Kay chases Kevin and ducks his