'Our Day Out' - Choose three incidents in the play, which you consider to be comic. Show how Russell has created good comedy out of the characters, events and dialogue in your chosen scenes.
'Our Day Out' By Ben Gowland Choose three incidents in the play, which you consider to be comic. Show how Russell has created good comedy out of the characters, events and dialogue in your chosen scenes. In this assignment I am going to look at the ways in which Willy Russell has created humour within the play 'Our Day Out'. I will pay particular attention to the characters, their dialogue and the events that take place Willy Russell was born in a town near Liverpool, he left school at fifteen with no idea what he wanted to do and nothing but an O'level in English. 'Our Day Out', 'Blood Brothers' and 'Educating Rita' are a reflection of Russell's own experience of education. At the age of twenty Russell decided to resume his education, he enrolled as a mature student at Liverpool's Childwall college as a mature student While studying he saw a play called 'Unruly Elements' by John McGrath and decided to become a playwright. His first successful play was called 'John, Paul, George, Ringo and...Bert' It was a musical about the Beatles and was performed at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. He wrote 'Our Day Out' during the seventies. 'Our Day Out' is set in an inner-city comprehensive school whose catchment area is deprived and where there are many poor or single parent families with high unemployment and few opportunities for young people leaving school, 'Our Day Out' focuses
At the beginning of 'our day out' Briggs is portrayed as an antagonist. Has the audiences perception of him changed by the end of the play? At the beginning of 'Our Day Out' the character of Mr. Briggs is told to 'keep an eye on things
At the beginning of 'our day out' Briggs is portrayed as an antagonist. Has the audiences perception of him changed by the end of the play? At the beginning of 'Our Day Out' the character of Mr. Briggs is told to 'keep an eye on things.' At this point we don't know a great deal about him apart from the fact that he acts a bit like a spy. Briggs addresses the pupils on the coach to sit down and his first words are typical of a strict teacher:' Reilly. Dickson. Sit down!' It shows it will not be easy for the pupils to get on with as they want to have a good time, and a good time in his eyes is to sit down quietly and talk to people sitting near by you. Briggs dialogue indicates that he is strict. He does not talk to people in a normal tone; it is more of a strict tone. And there are a lot of exclamation marks in his dialogue indicating he shows most of the time. Mrs. Kay is the classes teacher, she is a nice lady that knows the children wont amount to much, as there is no jobs around in that area. Briggs and Mrs. Kay seem to not get along, this is because of the different teaching styles. Briggs does not understand that the pupil's fathers work hard and do not have much to show for it. Whereas Mrs Kay understands it is hard for them, understand they wont grow up to be much and tries to be nice. Mrs Kay and the other teachers are as disappointed as the children when they
Teenagers, Drugs & Alcohol
Teenagers, Drugs & Alcohol 'At the opening night for Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes", in which she starred, Tallulah Bankhead got into an argument with the writer, Dashiell Hammett. Hammett, commenting on her addiction to cocaine, told her that he didn't much like people who took drugs. Tallulah retorted, "You don't know what you're talking about. I tell you cocaine isn't habit-forming and I know because I've been taking it for years."' Drugs and alcohol is a very tender topic, so you need to be supportive when talking about it, but the possible consequences of drinking and taking drugs are far too dire to ignore. So even though you might stumble and falter, the stakes are too high for you to remain silent. Communicating your beliefs and values about drugs and alcohol gives your children a set of guidelines and limits to help them make healthy decisions. One big talk (like the "birds and bees" lecture) is not the route to follow; you can find many opportunities to introduce your opinions, beliefs, and questions. TV shows, news reports, movies, and newspaper stories are good starting points for a conversation. Discussions about these issues should begin in early childhood, long before the teenage years. Adolescence is actually the worst time to begin talking to kids about drugs and alcohol; teenagers are the most likely to reject their parent's advice and to be
Are the characters and their situations in 'Our Day Out' true to life and does Willy Russell want us to sympathise with them?
Are the characters and their situations in 'Our Day Out' true to life and does Willy Russell want us to sympathise with them? 'Our Day Out' is set in the late seventies in Liverpool. It is about a 'progress' class that is taken to Wales for the day and visit the zoo, Conwy Castle and the beach. Four teachers and the driver take them to Wales. First, Mrs Kay in her early forties is head of the 'progress' class and acted more of a mother figure than a teacher. Mr Briggs in his early thirties and deputy head teacher. Also two support teachers Susan and Colin who are in their early twenties and Ronny who is 'a right head case' according to Mr Briggs. Set in the late seventies in the inner city of Liverpool and the seventies saw the decline of the coalmines and factory work. It was a change in industry and a recession. I will be focusing on Mr Briggs, Mrs Kay and Carol who are the three main characters of the play. Firstly, Mr Briggs for the times that the play was set Mr Briggs a realistic, run of the mill teacher pouncing on any chance he got to have a go at anyone who slipped up. He feels that the students on the trip should not be able to go on the trip or at least be able to know how to behave when on a trip. They will not behave in the appropriate manner and will cause absolutely havoc. "To be quite honest, Mrs Kay I think we should all be inside looking after
The play "Our day out" is about a disastrous school trip and two teachers who continuously fight over the way the children should be disciplined.
Our day out The play our day out is about a disastrous school trip and two teachers who continuously fight over the way the children should be disciplined. Mrs Kay is the teacher who cares and is kind to the children Mr Briggs is hard on the kids and very strict. He thinks that the kids just muck about. We can tell the play is meant to be watched because on the coach the children were sticking two fingers up at the window at the people behind, this shows that Mr Briggs is right for the way he is because all the teachers are too soft and he will punish them. There is one girl called Carol who actually knows that she is going to get bad GCSE's. Carol loves Wales so much that she decides to run away and sit on top of a cliff because she can't face going home. Mr Briggs goes looking for her and finds her. He tries to persuade her to come back but she just threatens him by saying she will jump off the cliff. He then learns to listen to the pupils and treats them more kindly. Mrs Kay is the teacher who is considerate, sympathetic and she believes in letting her pupils have fun. Mr Briggs doesn't believe in that because he is strict, uptight and does not relax. He shouts a lot he also tries to be organized and takes his job seriously. So Mr Briggs doesn't let the children have any fun. The kids favor Mrs Kay because she is relaxed with them and they know they can get away with
Our Day Out Literature Coursework
Our Day Out Literature Coursework Our Day Out is a book set in the rundown area of Liverpool. It is set in the year 1977, which is also the year it was written by the author Willy Russel. The book is about a class of intellectually challenged children who go on a school trip to Conwy castle; this is quite special to them because most of them have never left Liverpool. Willy Russel has set out to give more of an incite into these children's lives. His message comes across clearly in the way he shows social conditions of the play. The setting is in the deprived section of Liverpool around the late 70's when there was a lot of unemployment due to the docks closing down. Briggs shows an interest in this and is annoyed by the status of the docks. "There's a wealth of history that won't be here much longer." This shows that Briggs has a love for this part of Liverpool even if he is nasty to everyone who lives there. Because this is causing high unemployment (the closing of the docks), a lot of people are forced to make money from ways they don't really want to. This is shown in a conversation on the bus when Andrews tries to get a cigarette off Digga and Reily and they say he can buy his own because his mums loaded, he denies this and then Reily says; "Well she should be.... All the fellars she picks up on parly." This is implying that the boy's mum is a prostitute, what is
Essay on my life
Write a personal narrative essay (minimum 500 words) that describes a vivid episode in your life; in other words, tell a story about yourself that documents a personal experience you've had, be it good or bad, alone or with others. Prepare and include a thesis statement (opinion), either direct or implied, in the first paragraph or elsewhere in the essay, that reveals to the reader your response to what you experienced, and support that thesis with relevant details in the narrative. Please include some concrete descriptions in the narrative. One week before Christmas, my tall, blonde friend, Erika and I settled into opposite seats just as the train labored off toward Manhattan. We teased each other as we compared the weight and size of our over-night bags. Erika's bag held a change of underwear, a nightshirt, and a toothbrush; my bag contained three complete outfits, two pairs of shoes, a nightgown, a bathrobe, a hair- blower, cosmetics, and aspirin. Erika teased that I would be sorry when I had to carry my bag around the city. I joked that she would beg me for beauty supplies that night. We quieted down and smiled at each other as we anticipated the weekend. "I really appreciate this, Erika," I said. "I need some space-you know, some time away from my family." Erika is a compassionate friend. She has known pain and hardship. When just a child, Erika and her German family
Problems in schools are a very prevalent issue in today's society; school violence is on the rise with other issues such as dr
Violence in Schools In The National Center for Education Statistics' Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000 T.R. Canady (2001) "indicates that 12-18 year olds were the victims of 2.7 MILLION school crimes in 1998, including 252,700 non-fatal serious violent crimes." Even after Columbine, the highly publicized school shooting, violence in schools is still going strong with in a place where the last thing on the kids' minds should be. They, the adults," have tried to resolve these problems by using force and fear to control these kids. Problems in schools are on the rise with other issues such as violence, drug and teen pregnancy. To solve this growing problem we need to first address what is the root cause of this behavior. Kids now days are neglected by parents left at home watching TV, while the parents are working. The kids observe so much polluted material on the television it almost seems casual when they do such hideous acts which is repeated over time. Kids are SO desensitized from the things they see on TV, video games, movies. Kids tend to imitate what they see exposing them to violence before they can understand it doesn't help them when the parents are not there to watch over them. Especially with the moral decay of our society, people act without regard for others, kids having babies, fatherless families, unsupervised and unwanted children don't always get
'Our day out' by Willy Russell - compare and contrast the characters of Mr.Briggs and Mrs.Kay.
Maria Lyon 'Our day out' by Willy Russell is set in the inner city of Liverpool in the 1970's. The play opens in a poor comprensive class on the day of a school outing to Wales. The characters are Mrs Kay, Mr Briggs, Colin, Carol, Andrews, Moris, Reilly, Digga, Linda , and Milton e.t.c. The teachers in the school give the impression that they do not really care about the children because they think they will have no future and that if they have no future then there's not really a point of teaching them if there not going to need it. Mr Briggs is a good example of this. Mrs Kay is kinder to the children, but Mrs Kay's discussion with Mr.Briggs she basically says that they have no future, that they were built for factory fodder but the factorys have all closed down. This shows that she knows that they don't have a future, but even though she knows this she is still nice to them. The childrens attitudes are that they are rude, obnoxious, and angry at the world thay live in and dissruptive. They don't really think much of themselves, they think there not really worth much and that they think they will just end up like there parents. I think that the children are only rude to people who are rude and disrespectful to them. The childrens behaviour shows also that the parents do not really care about them. One of the children says that his dad beats him and its not for smoking them
Compare the Characters of Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs from Willy Russell's Our Day Out. Whose style of teaching do you think is best for the Progress Class?
Compare the Characters of Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs from Willy Russell's Our Day Out. Whose style of teaching do you think is best for the Progress Class? Mrs Kay is in her early 40's, which indicates that she is experienced. She understands that the children have a very poor life ahead of them which makes Mrs Kay is a realist, not an idealist. This means that she knows that the children don't have much of a chance in their adult years. She wants the children to have as much of a good time as possible and knows that they will misbehave but allows them to do so as long as no one is hurt. She knows that she can get more from the children from being kind than by using discipline making her very close to the children. "Mrs Kay smiles at her and links her arm". This helps the children to feel mothered and loved. Mr Briggs is in his early 30's, which indicates that he is possibly less experienced than Mrs Kay. Mr Briggs doesn't understand the children's backgrounds very well. "They have enough freedom at home, haven't they, with their two quid pocket money and their television until all hours". He thinks that they have the ability to learn but they are all troublemakers and believes that to get the best of the children he must use discipline on them. Our first impressions of him are that he has a lot of authority and uses it to get what he wants. "Arrogant get that one is".