Another instance of comedy of character is apparent in the first scene. Rita says:
“Well that’s no good always meanin’ to, is it? Y’ should get on with it; one of these days you’ll be shoutin’ ‘come in’ an’ it’ll go on forever because the poor sod on the other side won’t be able to get in.”
The actor playing Frank would have to portray annoyed feelings towards Rita as she is saying this in a sarcastic manner towards him. The audience would find this particularly humorous, as the character’s personalities are completely different; Frank being rather professional and Rita being an amateurish student.
The second aspect that creates humour for the audience is that of the comedy created from a certain situation, this is where an event occurs in a place that you would not expect it to. An example of this is in act two, scene three when we are told that Frank was teaching a class, clearly under the under the influence of alcohol, resulting in him falling off of the rostrum. Although we don’t actually see Frank fall off in the play, Russell uses imagery to create a picture of Frank and his drunken antics in the audience’s mind. We learn of this through Frank as he describes the event to Rita.
Once again the reason that the audience may find this amusing is the fact that it is an utterly unforeseen occurrence.
Another unexpected occurrence that falls into this category is when Frank is searching through his bookshelf, apparently searching for a particular novel when in fact he pulls out a bottle of whisky. This would shock the audience; you would never expect a university lecturer, of all people, to be drinking on the job. The audience are misled, to their knowledge; Frank is looking for a novel when in actual fact he is searching for his stash of whisky.
The third aspect that creates humour for the audience is the comedy of misunderstanding; this is when characters misunderstand each other with entertaining results. In act one, scene one after Rita has just entered the room; both she and Frank misunderstand each other when asking questions to each other:
Frank: ‘You are?’
Rita: ‘What am I?’
Frank: ‘Pardon?’
Rita: ‘What?’
Frank: ‘Now you are?’
Rita: ‘I’m a what?’
The audience would find this particularly humorous, as neither Frank nor Rita latch’s onto the other’s wavelength: they are talking about totally different things. As director, I would have the two actors looking puzzled while posing their respective questions to the other character.
A second example that would fall into the comedy of misunderstanding category would be the scene featuring Rita and Frank discussing ‘Howard’s End’. Rita tells Frank that she is going to see a production of ‘Howard’s End’, Frank obviously thinks that she is going to see a professional production when, in actual fact she is seeing an amateur production. The results of this would appear very humorous to the audience as a debate arises between the pair; Frank rubbishing the quality of amateur plays.
An additional example of comedy of misunderstanding is when Frank and Rita misunderstand ‘tragic’ and ‘tragedy’. In reference to Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Rita says that the play was ‘tragic’. She should, as Frank points out, have said that it was a ‘tragedy’. If I were to direct this sequence, I would have Rita firmly believing that Macbeth indeed was ‘tragic’. Frank would have to go to extreme lengths to persuade her to change her opinion, which would be found to be particularly humorous by the audience.
The fourth aspect of comedy that I would like to concentrate on is the comedy created by certain character’s linguistics. An illustration of this would be in the opening scene when Rita is discussing a painting on Frank’s wall:
“Look at those tit’s!”
Not only is this comedy of character but it is also comedy of language, as the way that Rita speaks would be found to be amusing by the audience. The way Rita enters the room would also create humour. As director I would have the actress playing Rita say the line in a strong Liverpudlian accent, as many people believe the accent to be comical. The actor playing Frank would have to look bemused and disguise laughter to emphasise the fact that this is meant to be funny to the audience. The clash of culture between Rita and Frank is evident here. It is this that makes the line funny for the reason that, given Franks lingual excellence, a line like this would be completely absurd if coming from him.
It has to be said that in life there is a register as to how you speak to different people and how you speak in different situations. Rita may not be aware, but many people would not talk to a university lecturer who is going to determine if they can participate in a course, in the way she does. It is amusing when she gives Frank an order, as it is really unforeseen:
“You wanna get it fixed!”
A further illustration of comedy of language is when Frank is explaining to Rita that some students reported him to the university board for falling off the rostrum. She makes a joke of the situation by suggesting the fact that someone had been “buggering the bursar”. The actress playing Rita would have to say this while disguising laughter to emphasise the fact that it is intended as a joke.
One final example comedy of character is the fact that Rita has a trait of persistently swearing. As I have already said, there is a register as to how you speak to different people in different situations, and you would not expect a student to say words such as “Fucking, Shit, Bastard and Wanker” in the presence of her tutor. Rita’s swearing is very unexpected and to some extent is initially shocking to the audience; therefore it is possible for it to be perceived as being humorous to the audience.
Of the four main aspects of comedy that I have discussed, I feel that the comedy of character is the most effective. This is because one of the characters, Frank, creates lots of humour throughout the play, which stems from his alcoholic addiction. A prime example of this is the hilarious scene when he falls off of the rostrum- an action that occurs because of his drunkenness. Along with Frank’s drinking, Rita’s entrance to the play is an example of extremely effective comedy of character. However, as the play progresses and Rita becomes more aware and cognisant of her actions the comedy seems to derive from Frank’s drunkenness.
There is much to be said as to how you would direct this play. Personally I would involve more than just the two characters Frank and Rita. This would give me as director, the chance to introduce more humorous situations. Other occurrences that would possibly make the play more interesting could be added to the play with the introduction of extra characters. Willy Russell wrote this play to be performed, but I must wonder why he wrote the play with only two characters if he did eventually see the play being performed on the silver screen.
