There will be another less comfortable chair opposite the desk, in which Rita will sit. It will be moved further away from the desk when she enters the set, as she will position it to her own liking. This will also highlight her lack of social behaviour, and enable the audience to see her throughout the play.
Rita will enter the set through a large double door at the back, which will be old-fashioned, and will have an arc-shaped piece of glass above it. The doors will be fairly grand due to the play being set in an old university. The left wall will be lined by two filing cabinets, and bookshelves full to the brim with books from the canon of literature.
To the right of the door are some hooks for Rita to hang her coat on. On the right wall is the religious picture mentioned in Act One Scene One, under which are cupboards. These store – among other things – Frank’s whisky and glasses, but these will come out of the cupboards later on in the play.
The front of the stage will represent the fourth wall and the window, to allow us to see into the set. There will be a mini chandelier hanging down in the centre, because it is an old, grand university.
To play Rita, I have not chosen an established movie actress. Instead I have chosen Caroline Aherne, from The Royle Family, because she will probably express herself as Rita extremely well, and without fear. This is because she doesn’t have as much of a reputation to carry onto the stage. In The Royle Family she played Denise Royle, a young, working class woman from Manchester. She has played funny characters well, and this is another key element when choosing someone to play this difficult role. She just about fits into the age category needed, so Caroline Aherne was the obvious choice to play Rita.
To play Frank I have chosen another relatively unknown actor in Warren Clarke. He is around fifty years old – which is the age needed – and has played a variety of different roles, including Andy Dalziel in Dalziel and Pascoe. He has played middle class men, including alcoholics, which would help him in playing Frank.
Frank will wear a suit, due to him being middle class, with a shirt and tie. The suit will be dark grey, and a few years old to show he doesn’t care much about being smart. To further emphasise this, he will have an image of Homer Simpson drinking a can of beer on his tie. This will also represent him being an alcoholic, and his tie will be loose and scruffy at the top. His shoes will be leather and fairly smart in comparison with the rest of his clothes.
Rita’s clothes will not be particularly nice, as this is implied to us in Act One Scene Two when she said, “Look at the state of this.” She will wear a cheap, sky blue women’s t-shirt and some dark blue, sporty trousers. She will also wear a thin, pink cardigan. However, because Rita is a hairdresser in Act One, her hair will be in a blond, fashionable style. Her appearance will show that she is working class, but will also show she has the ability to change, as her hair looks good.
I will now pick out some key moments from Act One, and explain how I would direct them. When Rita entered Frank’s office for the first time, she said, “I’m coming in aren’t I? It’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door. You wanna get it fixed!” By talking like this, Rita is showing her working class background. She uses slang, and is far too familiar with Frank. I would present this meeting by getting my actress to snap out her lines, angrily and quickly, and a spotlight will go over Rita. Frank will be shocked and bemused, and will drop his Open University file that he had just taken from a filing cabinet. His head will suddenly turn towards Rita, not believing that someone could walk into his office as if she were his mother.
Soon after this, Frank asked for Rita’s name, by saying, “You are?” only for Rita to reply, “What am I?” Rita showed her social ignorance, as she thought Frank was going to insult her. She didn’t know what to say or do, as she had never been in a similar situation before. The lines highlight their social classes, as Frank is middle class, and said “Pardon?” and Rita – who is working class – replied “What?”
Throughout this dialogue Frank will act very confused, and will just talk at normal volume. Rita, however, will lash the words back furiously, getting more and more heated until she says, “I’m a what?” This will emphasise the fact that she doesn’t know how to behave in that situation. Her face will wear an enraged expression, and will confront Frank as if she was going to pin him against the wall. Frank will be shocked by this behaviour, and will show this by swiftly bringing his hands up to stop her, and by his expression.
Later on in the scene, Rita said, “You’ve got to challenge death and disease. I once read this poem about fighting death…” Frank thought she was talking about a Dylan Thomas poem, when she actually meant one by Roger McGough. This will again press home to the audience that Frank and Rita think completely differently, and implies that she has a gap in her knowledge of literature.
Frank will be quite happy with Rita, thinking he will have less to teach her, until she tells him it is by Roger McGough. He will then have a surprised, yet puzzled, expression on his face, and will walk around the room thinking and scratching his head. Rita will just stand by the window, smoking.
By having my characters act like this in this scene, it should shed real light on their classes. It will show Rita having a distinct lack of social behaviour skills, and that there is an awful lot for Frank to teach her.
Both Frank and Rita have bad habits, and the frequency of their usage of them goes in opposite directions. Rita starts the play an active smoker, and finishes a non-smoker. But Frank alcoholism gets worse, and his character deteriorates throughout the play.
To make the audience really take note of Rita smoking, she will do a variety of different things to make it more noticeable. For example, in one scene she might start blowing smoke rings, and in another she might accidentally stub a cigarette out on the floor. Both these things would get the audience’s attention, instead of just smoking normally in each scene. Smoking symbolises Rita’s inability to get educated; when she smoked she couldn’t do the work, but, after giving up, she was able to pass her exam. Her change in behaviour would be very apparent in Act Two, as she speaks in a much more polite manner, and has stopped smoking
Frank’s alcohol will begin the play hidden in a cupboard, and will gradually become more obvious as the play goes on. Late in the play, Frank will have a definite slur in his voice, and his whisky will be out on his desk. I will also make his alcoholism more apparent by gradually changing his appearance to become scruffier, and by making his office untidier. His alcohol represents his life deteriorating, as he loses his partner and his job after going to alcohol.
The audience would now be able to appreciate that the habits are symbolic of their characters, implying smoking and alcoholism may prevent people from doing things.
The two difficulties in staging this play are that there is only one set, and that there are just two characters. I have resolved the first difficulty by ensuring the set shows Frank as middle class, and that it is about education as it is in a university. I have resolved the problem of there being only two characters by getting my stars to show what’s happening properly, and show the symbolism of their habits. I feel that by doing this, I will have allowed the audience to enjoy the play to the maximum level possible.
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