“I know I shouldn’t be here, it’s me dinner hour, but listen, I’ve gorra tell someone, have y’ got a few minutes, can y’ spare…?” This sudden up roar grabs the audience’s interest, as we join Frank in wondering what could have happened, something serious perhaps?
The tension levels in the audience now reach an anti-climax as Rita reveals she has just been to the theatre. Rita’s excitement and energy over something Frank sees as everyday news for him creates humour in the audience. The characters feelings of closeness have now been realised. Frank’s worried, fatherly reaction proves that he sees Rita as more than just a student.
Ignoring Frank’s reaction Rita continues to tell of the play with more enthusiasm and urgency in her voice. In the script, the line “I wanted to find out. But listen, it wasn’t borin’, it was bleedin’ great, honest, ogh, it done me in, it was fantastic. I’m gonna do an essay on it.” Shows that Rita is so excited she can’t wait to blurt it all out, resulting in long sentences full of short thoughts and expression. Again this makes the audience laugh, as we are not used to hearing slang, Rita like phrases with that strong Liverpudlian accent commenting on Upper class literature so enthusiastically.
Rita then surprises the audience by reciting a section of Macbeth’s soliloquy. She is again comical, as we know she is only showing off and doesn’t really understand the true meaning of the quotation. Frank is also amused as he mocks her by saying “Ah Romeo and Juliet!”
The audience now has a slight annoyance with Frank, as he seems to have completely no interest in Rita’s achievements. He shows this by putting his feet up on the desk in a bored fashion.
Rita continues to tell Frank of her reaction to the storyline as she says, “I wanted to shout out an’ tell Macbeth, warn him.” Frank then shows his slight lack of faith in her as he thinks Rita has confused an upper class play with a lower class pantomime. However his faith is immediately restored as Rita shrugs of the comment “Nah Y’ cant do that in a theatre, can y’?”
The atmosphere in the room now seems to have calmed down as Rita suddenly realises where she is and has to return to work to finish a customer’s perm. The audience then witnesses a touching student, teacher moment as Frank tries to explain to Rita the difference between Tragedy and a tragic event. The audience finally sees the part of Frank that Rita has seen all along. We realise just how passionate he is about Literature.
We also discover that he is a very good teacher using successful teaching tools like simple everyday analogies to help explain. For example he talks about the newspaper article “Man Killed By Falling Tree”
A very subtle but important detail in this scene is that he hands Rita an apple, a possible signifier of him handing her his knowledge. Rita then returns his generosity by handing him a can of soft drink, which could signify the lower class tastes. This is the moment in the play where we see the characters crossing over the class boundaries. However the audience is again annoyed at Frank as he turns down her offer. We see his character come out as he is not quite ready to take risks and cross that invisible line.
As Rita has a lesson in Literature from frank the audience feels a warmth and closeness to her and we join her in learning and we delight in her gradual understanding. She still manages to be comical to the audience as she uses an oxymoron, referring to tragedy as “fun”.
However we soon see, for the first time, Rita’s weakness. Something that makes such a jolly, energetic character so uncomfortable throws the audience yet again as she says to Frank “I think so. I’m not used to thinkin’ like this.” We see Rita as a courageous character as she is trying to overcome the stereotypes of not wanting to learn at her age.
The mood in the office then turns quite tense again as Rita appears troubled.
“They know all about this sort of thing out there don’t they?” This shows she still feels like she has not yet achieved what she hopes for, to become a “proper” student. During this very moving moment with Rita she gets up and looks out of the window. Willy Russell obviously knows this character very well and has realised that such a character would rather face away from Frank rather than let him see her weakness.
As quick as we saw this very different side to Rita she comes back again and realises she still has a customer waiting back at work. The energy once again returns as she jumps up grabbing her stuff ready to leave. Frank and Rita’s relationship has grown so much that Rita now feels she would like to see frank outside of classes and asks him if he would like to join her in a trip to an art gallery. Rita is obviously showing off her new interests to Frank, hoping to boost his impression of her.
Frank then completely shocks the audience again by returning the kind invitation and asks her to go over to his house for a dinner party. Once again the tension rises as the uncomfortable Rita returns.
The conversation finally breaks down as they converse using short questions and answers. Rita sees this as a big step to enter Frank’s home. This again signifies crossing over boundaries and going into an unknown territory, which is frightening for Rita.
For the audience the scene has ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, as we didn’t get a definite answer from Rita. We also want to know the reactions of off screen characters such as Julia and Denny.
Act 1 scene 6 is a turning point in the play because we are finally seeing Frank and Rita’s relationship grow. Both characters are able to over look the barrier of social class to become good friends, with warm and genuine affection towards each other. This has a moving affect on the audience. Through mainly humour and contrasts the scene moves quickly with the pace and atmosphere continually changing, which makes it one of the most entertaining scenes in the whole play creating and sustaining the audiences interest throughout.
