How does Willy Russell present differences between Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay
How does Willy Russell present differences between Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay in "Our day Out"? Willy Russell contrasts two teachers in the play "Our Day Out" in order to present different teaching attitudes. The play is set in 1970's Liverpool, which was poverty-stricken and had high levels of unemployment. By having this setting Russell gives the teachers difficult children to teach and the play seems to test who will deal with the children best. Russell doesn't make either of the teachers perfect but exposes their true feelings to show what attributes a good teacher should have. Mr Briggs is strict but willing to teach whereas Mrs Kay is fun and sympathetic but has lost hope in teaching the students. In my opinion Russell seems more approving of Mr Briggs, especially by the end of the play. Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs have very different relationships and attitudes to the children in the Progress Class. The differences are between the teachers are revealed through the handling of and treatment of the children. They have different characteristics but neither of them can be said to be entirely positive or negative in the eyes of the audience and also the children. Mrs Kay is relaxed and gentle with children whereas Mr Briggs is far stricter and more demanding of the Progress Class. This is apparent as soon as the play starts so the audience admire Mrs Kay over Mr Briggs at the
How effective and realistic is Willy Russell's presentation of the school trip in 'our day out'?
How effective and realistic is Willy Russell's presentation of the school trip in 'our day out'? 'Our day out' was written as a television play in 1977 but taken directly from Willy Russell's personal experience of teaching in a Liverpool comprehensive school in 1974. Not only does Willy Russell's experience stem from his time in teaching but also from being a pupil at two Liverpool comprehensive schools, leaving at 15 with no qualifications. This gives him a good understanding of situations described in the play from the point of view of both children and teachers. Liverpool at that time had a large working class population and a lot of poverty, with huge social problems. Unemployment was growing and many of the children would have had little hope of a career and a good future. In those days children without academic aptitude in secondary education were often regarded as hopeless and left to sink or swim. Russell fully understood this as it was his own background. I believe that the school trip in 'our day out' is realistic because, not only is the characterisation excellent, both students and teachers are portrayed honestly and are given a lot of depth for such a short play, but also the dialogue is naturalistic. In addition, the general set up for the play is quite believable, the teacher of a remedial department organising a day trip, then at the last minute a
The main themes in Our Day Out are lack of education, lack of opportunity and social deprivation. Show how the writer makes us aware of these themes
The major themes in 'Our Day Out' are the lack of education, lack of opportunity and social deprivation in the inner city. Show how the writer makes us aware of these ideas. Our Day Out is set in inner city Liverpool in the mid 1970s. The fictional school is located in a neighbour with a high crime rate, drug use, prostitution, high unemployment, poverty and domestic abuse. The kids in the schools remedial class are all portrayed as economically unstable, poor and deprived children with different stories which reinforce the key ideas of the play. In 1981 there was rioting in Toxteth, a deprived district of Liverpool of which high unemployment rates were blamed for. The setting of the play acts as a prelude to the riots. Willy Russell adds elements of subtle humour which make the play funny and sad at the same time Early on in the play we are introduced to Carol Chandler who is evidently one of the poorest children in the class when she is revealed to be "wearing a school uniform which doubles as a street outfit and a Sunday best, eating half a sandwich and clutching a carrier bag" Here Russell is introducing us to one of the focal characters with a description which suggests that Carol's family can't afford to buy here a school bag, have to share food and can't afford many clothes. This portrayal of Carol is important as it shows the signs of social deprivation and
Our day out - With whom does Willy Russell intend the audience to sympathize and identify? Give reasons and evidence from the play in your answer.
OUR DAY OUT With whom does Willy Russell intend the audience to sympathize and identify? Give reasons and evidence from the play in your answer. Our Day Out was originally written as a television play, which was set in Liverpool. Willy Russell wrote it in 1977. He was born in 1947 inWhiston, but most of his childhood was spent in Knowsley just outside Liverpool. He has written a string of popular award winning plays and musicals. One of his most famous was Educating Rita, which was successfully adapted into a film and nominated for an Oscar. Other of his well-known works includes Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers. Most of Russell's plays and characters are based on their situations, which are drawn from real life experiences, although the stories are generally humorous there is usually a hidden agenda as the characters tend to crave freedom from a deprived background. A good example of this is Our Day Out. Russell wrote this after his experiences as a teacher at Shorefield Comprehensive School, when accompanying a teacher of the remedial department on a trip to Conwy Castle. The play implicates all the vital elements of the trip, which contrast with the complex teaching methods of the characters. Russell uses dramatic devices to create warmth, humour and a sense of humanity in his work, to show different archetypal views which his audience can identify with.
Our Day Out - Analyse the cliff scene in detail showing how Russell uses dramatic impact to reveal character and convey his views
Analyse the cliff scene in detail showing how Russell uses dramatic impact to reveal character and convey his views The title of the play is 'Our Day Out' Willy Russell wrote it in 1977. He was born in Whinston Lancashire. He grew up in Knowsley; a model village set in the countryside outside Liverpool. Once Russell had qualified as a teacher he worked at Shortfields Comprehensive School in Liverpool where his experiences lead him directly into the writing of 'Our Day Out'. While it was written in 1977 its roots were firmly planted In Russell's experiences at Shorfields comprehensive. Clearly all the vital elements of Russell's play were implicit on the day trip for the remedial department at Shortfields. It has many fast moving scenes. Some humorous others even depressing. The story is quite powerful and get you thinking about many things. It was designed for television in 1977 and made into a musical in 1983; there would be many difficulties to put it onto stage. The problems would consist of Mr Briggs car approaching the zebra crossing, having a lot of children on the stage at once and having the buildings on the stage especially the school etc The play is set in Liverpool in a very run down area and extremely deprived, the behaviour and problems that the children have are very visible throughout the play. The play is about a progress class, which consists of children
The major themes in our day out are the lack of education, opportunity and deprivation the inner city; discuss how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of these situations.
The major themes in our day out are the lack of education, opportunity and deprivation the inner city; discuss how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of these situations. The popular play and TV series our day out, written by Willy Russell was set in Liverpool in the 1970 's. At this time Britain was in the middle of an economic recession and huge job losses were a result of this. Because of the high unemployment levels, social deprivation was at a high, with many families being unable to afford proper food or clothing for their children for example. Many of the men who lived in Liverpool in the early 1970's would of worked either at the docks or in the factories, which were generally the only jobs the men could get, the few business people of the city also lost their jobs when Britain hit the recession so the unemployment levels were astronomically high. The story is based around a group of kids from a Liverpool school who go on a day out to Conway castle in Wales. The trip is aimed at the children who go to progress class which is a special class that the kids who cant read or write properly attend. There are two very contrasting teachers in the play who want to treat the kids in totally different ways; these are Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay. Whilst Mr Briggs wants the trip to be for educational purposes Mrs Kay wants the children to have a good day away from Liverpool.
Our Day Out.
Our Day Out A great writer named Willy Russell wrote this play. He did not inherit the best start in life. He was from a working class family from Whiston, which is in the outskirts of Liverpool so he would have known what the living situation was like in Liverpool in this time. Willy Russell was no genius in school and he left at 16 to become a hairdresser. His next career move took him to Ford motors as a night shift cleaner and in this stage in his life when he began to do his A levels he done them and passed. After that he went on to become a teacher, so in that time working as a teacher he probably based some of the characters in this play on people he knew. He worked as a teacher for a year or two. Then after the success of his musical John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert he took up his play-writing full time. He wrote some famous plays like Blood Brothers, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Then our day out. The story of are day out is about a progress class from Liverpool. They are going on a day to Wales to visit Conway castle. But for most of the kids on this trip its their first time outside Liverpool. But they also went to other places along the way like the zoo, beach and the fair. The zoo and the beach were both to the objection of Briggs, but the fun fair was his idea due to a change in heart. The story our day out begins with Les the lollipop man helping
Explain how Philip Ridley tries to make "Sparkleshark" appeal to a modern teenage audience.
Explain how Philip Ridley tries to make "Sparkleshark" appeal to a modern teenage audience. Introduction Sparkleshark is a play about teenagers for teenagers. The play is based on nine characters, all around fourteen to sixteen years of age, who live in the East-End of London. They come together on a tower block roof and act out a story, which brings them together although they are very different characters. The play might appeal to teenagers because it is about them and their interests. Teenagers might not relate to the story that is acted out because it is about dragons and magical things, but the play could appeal because the characters become friends and seem to forget their differences. The Setting The play is set in the East-End of London on the roof of a tower block. This is an ideal place for teenagers because it is away from adults; it is not very accessible to older or younger people. The fact that the play is set in London may be why the teenagers meet on the roof, there probably aren't many other places to go such as playing fields or open spaces. There is rubbish on the roof, an old armchair, trolleys, boxes and other discarded furniture, this would appeal to teenagers, as somewhere they did not have to keep clean and tidy. The play is set in mid September at about 4.30 pm and the weather is sunny, the characters are outside making the most of the late summer
Our day out
Our Day out Our day out is a play written by Willy Russell, It's about unfortunate school children that go on a school trip. This play is set in the 1970's in Liverpool. The setting and culture makes good theatre. This is because it is set in Liverpool and the characters are poor and needy. This can create conflict and humour. We can also learn something from it E.G, what is it like to live life the way they live it. Also as it is set in the 1970's we learn what school was like and how different it is to now a days. It also is good theatre as it has a sense of realism, something we can all relate to. Willy Russell does this by the setting the scene around a school and a coach trip. We can all relate to it as we have all been to school and most probably been on a school trip including Willy Russell; Because of this he has made it exactly what it would be like on a coach; for example, the naughty boys would be at the back of the coach doing things a shouldn't, where as the teachers would be sitting at the front of the coach chatting. Many of the characters in the play have strong personalities. Some of them being children, which are from the progress class. There are some adults in the play which are teachers, others are people they met on their day out for example, shop keepers, buss driver, zoo keeper... Our 1st impression of Mrs. Kay comes from scene 2 just before the
A major theme in Our Day Out is the lack of education and opportunity for young people in the inner-city. Using scenes from the play, show how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of this theme.
A major theme in Our Day Out is the lack of education and opportunity for young people in the inner-city. Using scenes from the play, show how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of this theme. This book is about a school in Liverpool and the kids who go to the school and live there, who are both poor and disadvantaged. Willy Russell shows that in 1977 some of the schools in the inner-cities were not very effective, so the kids who go there do not have a very good education and do not have the opportunity to leave Liverpool and live a better life. Willy Russell writes about this because it is what he experienced during his own childhood. Willy Russell makes the audience aware of some of his ideas and themes by making suggestions in the stage directions of scene one; He illustrates the poverty in the inner schools in Liverpool by the statement, "eating a half eaten sandwich and clutching a supermarket carrier bag". He also shows that the children do not show any respect for authority because they ignore the lollipop man. The children are told, "don't cross the road without the assistance of the lollipop man". The children are just ignoring the fact that the lollipop man is there to help them. Throughout the book Willy Russell introduces humour for the enjoyment of the reader, for example, "only when the car is within striking distance does he walk out with his