The comedy was first produced at the Liverpool Playhouse in February 1981 and was made into a film, produced by Lewis Gilbert in 1983, starring Michael Caine (Dr. Frank Bryant) and Julie Walters (Rita White). It was revised and re-written by Willy Russell in March 2003 for the reason that it is used for examinations. In this essay, in order to answer the question successfully, Examine Franks growing sense of unease as Rita becomes more educated, I am going to focus closely on; the characters, the structure of the play, the language used, and the relationships shared between characters, especially between Frank and Rita.
Willy Russell originally wrote the play in 1981, just a few years after The Pill was introduced. The Pill, also known as the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), or the birth-control pill, was one of the fir
...st forms of contraception that allowed women to have sexual freedom and control pregnancies. The Pill is a tablet containing two female hormones, oestrogen, and progestogen. These two hormones stop a woman from ovulating (producing an egg) each month, therefore they wouldn't get pregnant.
Today, about 100 million women worldwide, 3.1 million women in the UK alone, use The Pill. There are only two main characters throughout the play: Rita and Frank. But are also many minor characters that are only mentioned in the stage directions but they still have a significant part to the play when it comes to events and character relationships. These minor characters include: Rita's husband, Denny, her mother, her flat-mate, Trish, Frank's partner, Julia, and a student, Tiger. Rita White is a young woman of only twenty-six years of age, who wa
born and raised as a person of working class.
Rita is currently unhappy with her life working as a women's hairdresser, as she wants to truly discover herself before having children with her husband, Denny. Her real name is Susan but she changed it to Rita after the author Rita Mae Brown who wrote her favourite novel, 'Rubyfruit Jungle. ' Rita's ideal lifestyle is to be educated and become middle class, like her tutor, Frank, who she looks up to. Her husband, Denny, expects her to have a child but she has been on The Pill, and secretly carried on taking it. This is because she wants to discover who she really is before she has a baby, and she plans to do this through education.
Frank Bryant is a middle-aged man of middle class who works as an experienced lecturer of literature, but starts a tutoring course at an open university. He has a bad drink problem and is often drunk whilst teaching his students, and spends most of his free time in the pub. Frank used to be a poet, but stopped writing after he split up with his wife over poetry and now has a new partner, an ex-student, Julia. Rita's husband, Denny comes across as quite a selfish person who doesn't give the time to actually understand his wife's wants and needs.
He fails to support Rita's attempts to educate herself and he expects her to have children. He is unaware that Rita is still secretly taking The Pill, as she knows he won't understand the fact she wants to discover herself before having a baby. In the end their marriage breaks down, as
Denny doesn't let Rita have any freedom. He doesn't like her going to her tutorials and doesn't like her studying at home; therefore, Rita has to study at work. Like Rita, her mother senses that there must be more to life than wasting time just sitting around in the pub and having a few drinks, "There must be better songs to sing than this... Unless Rita changes her lifestyle, the audience realise she will end up like her mother, wasting opportunities, such as education.
After Rita's marriage breakdown, she moves into a flat with Trish. Her new flat-mate becomes a big role model for Rita as she is desperate to change. Rita almost idolises Trish until the end of the play, when Rita is able to finally see Trish for what she really is. Her attempted suicide reflects that she has her own problems and weaknesses in life. Frank's partner, Julia, is one of his ex-students.
After his marriage breakdown, Frank begins to live with Julia, but the audience get the impression their relationship is quite tense. We see this at the beginning of the play when Frank is on the phone to Julia, "Julia, if you're trying to induce feelings of guilt... you'd have been better cooking something other than lamb and ratatouille. " It seems that Julia also has an issue with Frank's drink problem. Tiger, so-called because of his surname 'Tyson', is a leading figure among the students at the university.
In Act 2 he becomes a potential love interest for Rita, and Frank becomes very jealous of him when he invites Rita to go to France with a group of his student friends. At
the beginning of Act 1, Scene 1, the audience are introduced to Frank. He is talking to himself, "To my dear Charlie Dickens, genius and keeper of the scotch. " Straight away this is hinting to the audience that Franks has a drink problem.
We are then introduced to Julia, Frank's partner, as he is talking to her on the telephone, "Julia, Juliaa! " Again, the audience are shown that Frank is an alcoholic whilst he is talking to Julia, "I promise... just a couple of pints... our! " Rita, the, "Open University woman" then arrives for the first time to be tutored by Frank and knocks on the door as Frank is saying goodbye to Julia, "yes... bye-bye... come in!... come in! " When Rita enters she has a big impact on the audience as her entrance is very bold.
She bursts in after not being able to get in because of the broken door handle, "I am comin' in aren't I? It's that bleeding handle on the door. Y' wanna get it fixed! " Her attitude and personality have a big impact on the audience. Her personality is very loud and catches Frank's attention almost instantly, "One of these days you'll be shouting "Come in! and it'll go on forever... because the poor bastard on the other side won't be able to come in. " This is a metaphor of Rita wanting what is on the other side.
She wants to become educated but Frank doesn't want to teach her as he doesn't want her to change. She believes that 'the grass is greener on the other side. ' Her lack of knowledge, Liverpudlian accent, constant
swearing, and joking also all stands out. Rita's lack of knowledge shows when she doesn't know how tutors are meant to act or what their meant to do, "Aren't you meant to be interviewing me? Rita likes Frank's room as, "it's like a lovely mess," and the painting on the wall catches her attention.
She describes it as "erotic," and asks Frank whether he agrees. He replies, "I suppose it is" and her response is, "There's no suppose about it-look at those tits. " This allows the audience to clearly see both of the characters personalities, and is also an example of Rita's swearing. Frank and Rita form a bond almost instantly and automatically get talking, laughing and joking with each other. Rita is very pleased by this as she tells Frank, "I don't get to talk to many people like you.
As the two are talking, some of Frank and Rita's personal weaknesses are revealed to the audience. Rita smokes, "Can I smoke? " and offers Frank a cigarette, he declines as he has given up. Rita then starts talking about people being afraid of death, which reminds her of a poem of the same topic, " I read this great poem about fightin' death... " Frank assumes that she is talking about Dylan Thomas' poetry but she is referring to Roger McGough, who Frank is not familiar with. Towards the end of the play, Frank would do anything to be able to writes like Roger McGough
We are shown Frank's serious drinking problem as he offers Rita a drink of scotch. She tells him he should be more careful with alcohol, "it kills your brain cells,
y' know. " Rita does accept a drink as she says joking, "It'll probably have a job even finding my brain... " This again is an example of Rita's constant joking and shows her bubbly personality. Frank goes over to his bookshelf, as this is his secret drinks cabinet, where he removes a bottle from behind 'Forster. ' Rita then says, "My aunty's got a drinks cabinet like that! " This indicates that her family may also have minor drink problems.
Also Rita seems quite disappointed that Frank is an alcoholic. Another of Rita's issues is her constant swearing. She asks Frank whether he minds her swearing and asks him if he swears. He tells her he doesn't mind and he swears when he needs to. He believes there isn't such a thing as bad language, only bad use of language, "See, the properly educated, they know it's only words, don't they? " Rita talks a lot about educated people as this is her dream, to be a proper student. "It doesn't cause any kind of fuss with educated people... they know it's only words. "
After being caught up in conversation, Frank says, "It's Mrs White, is it? " and asks Rita if she wouldn't mind being called by her first name. When she replies, "My name? Oh, Rita. " Frank is taken by surprise as his paper work says, Mrs "S" White. Rita then tells Frank that's "S" for "Susan", her real name but she changed her name to Rita. She explains to him that she doesn't feel like a Susan anymore so named herself after Rita Mae Brown, the author of her favourite book,
'Rubyfruit Jungle. ' Clearly, this does not impress Frank. Towards the end of Scene 1, Frank feels that he can't fulfil Rita's needs.
This is because he realises if he were to teach Rita, he would have to change her, "There's nothing here for you! " He doesn't want to change Rita as this would remove her uniqueness and he likes her the way she is. Frank tells Rita that he is, "really rather an appalling teacher," and there are other better tutors than himself. Rita is disappointed but collects her things and leaves. Rita changes her mind though, and attempts to get back in the room but the door handle won't give way, "open the door... let me back in .. you're my tutor! When Rita finally manages to open the door, she explains to Frank that she doesn't want another tutor, " Because you're a crazy mad piss artist... An' I like you. "
In Scene 2, when Rita returns to Frank the following week, one of the first things she asks him is, "You haven't been drinking have you? " and Frank hasn't. This is unusual for Frank as normally before teaching he would always have a drink. Rita instantly assumes then that she has had an impact on Frank because of what she said to him previously. Frank is shocked by this, "What? You think where so many others have failed, you have reformed me! Rita is slightly offended by this but tries to hide her emotions by saying, "I don't wanna reform y'. You can do what you like. " Here the audience know that deep down Rita wants Frank to stop
drinking, as she feels he is hiding away from his true feelings.
Then Rita deliberately changes the subject and starts talking about when she was younger. Rita explains to Frank that she always wanted to go to a boarding school, but she wasn't allowed. She was made to go to a normal school, which was like all the other schools, "borin', ripped-up books, glass everywhere, knifes and fights an' sadists. She explained that she wanted to study, and wanted to take school seriously, but if she would have done that she would have become different from her mates, which wasn't allowed by her family, "If I'd started takin' school seriously than I would have had to become different... an' that's not allowed. " Frank was extremely shocked by this and felt sorry for Rita.
He didn't like the fact that she was forced to do things that didn't feel right to her just because of how she was raised, working class. Rita tells Frank that she used to hide her emotions and, "just put the music back on or buy another dress an' stop worrying. The dress in this situation is there to hide her emotions and the real Rita is trapped inside. Rita is wearing an 'old' dress and is refusing to buy a new one until she passes her first exam, "I haven't bought myself a new dress for the past twelve months. An' I'm not gonna get one... till I pass my first exam. " Here Rita is basically explaining that she refuses to hide behind fake feelings anymore and she isn't going to let anyone tell her what to do. Plus she wants
to change what's on the inside before she changes what's on the outside, therefore, she will only buy and wear a new dress when she has finally discovered herself.
As Rita returns every week back to the Open University, back to her tutor, Frank, their relationship continues to strengthen and grow and Frank becomes more sexually attracted to Rita, "Rita-Why didn't you walk in here twenty years ago? " Rita doesn't fully understand Franks meaning of this as her lack of knowledge means she doesn't know how a tutor is mean to act. Therefore, Rita replies with humour as she is what she knows best, to neutralise the situation. All Rita truly understands is that she is fully dependent of Frank throughout Act 1, for the sake of her education.
Rita is interested in Frank's personal life, "Are you married? " She was very shocked when Frank told her that he and his wife spilt up because of poetry, "People don't split up because of things like that. " Her mood suddenly rises when Frank tells her that he used to be a poet, but then she is slightly upset when he tells her he doesn't write anymore as she doesn't understand why. "So d' you live on your own now? " Frank tells Rita he lives with his partner, an ex-student, Julia. The audience get the sense here that Frank and Julia's relationship is quite tense, "she spends most of her time with her head in the oven. Julia likes to watch the ratatouille cook, but she's recently re-named it "the stop out stew. "
Frank occasionally doesn't return home for maybe, two, three days now and
then. This is because he is always out in the pub caught up drinking. Rita jokes, "If you were mine an' y' stopped out for days, y' wouldn't get back in! " and Frank replies, "If I was yours would I even consider stopping out for days? " This shows how strong their relationship has become and how Frank simply admires Rita. As Rita is getting deeper into her literature course, and becoming more educated, Frank starts to regret his decision on teaching Rita.
He can see that she is trying extremely hard to get things right, and this is resulting in changes. When Rita returns to Frank with her one-line response to an essay on Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt,' he explains that this is not sufficient for an essay as there is an expected way of writing. Rita explains now that she writes her essays at work, so she didn't have the time to write more as the shop was dead busy. This confuses Frank so Rita explains that, "Denny gets really pissed off if I work at home. " She tells him that her husband doesn't like her doing the course and that she cant be bothered arguing with him.
She tells Frank that Denny is afraid that she is trying to break away and Frank links Rita's life with Forster's writing. In Scene 4, Rita turns up to without her essay. Frank starts to be sarcastic with Rita, making up excuses for why she hasn't got it but he stops when he realises she's upset. "It's burnt. " Again, Frank is confused, "Burnt? " Rita explains that Denny found out she was still on The
Pill, therefore, he burnt all her books. Rita doesn't understand why her husband just can't let her get on with her learning. Frank asks if Denny thinks that she is having an affair with him, her response is, "Oh, go' way.
You're just me teacher. " He then asks, "Do you love him? " Rita explains now that she feels that Denny sometimes wonders where the girl he has married has gone to and that he buys her presents hoping she will return, "she's gone, an' I've taken her place. " This shows that Rita understands that she is changing, but she is happy with this and she is finally beginning to find herself. At the end of Scene 5, Frank wants Rita to meet Julia, and invites her over to his house for a dinner party. He also asks her to bring along Denny, if she wants.
Rita is nervous and asks him why he is inviting her and he replies, "Because you might enjoy it. " Rita's surprised by this as nobody has really invited her to a dinner party before. The Scene ends with Rita asking Frank, "What shall I wear? " At the beginning of Scene 6, Frank is disappointed that Rita didn't turn up for his party and Rita explains that she had a fight with Denny about it. Rita tells Frank that she spend all evening trying on dresses and thinking of things to say at the party. Rita seriously says that she brought the wrong sort of wine and she didn't want to be seen as funny.
That night when Rita decided not to go to Frank's party, she went back
to the pub where she found her family singing along to a song they'd learnt on the jukebox. She admitted that she'd sat there and thought about packing the course in to stay with them all and join in with the singing. When Frank asked her why she changed her mind she explained to him that she did join in with the singing but she turned to see her mother has stopped singing, and was crying. Rita asked her mother why she is crying and she'd replied, "Because we could sing better songs than those. By this, her mother was basically saying their life could be better.
She knows that Rita is going to end up like her when she becomes older if she doesn't do something about her life now, that's why Rita continues with the course and her studying. When Rita enters Scene 7, she is carrying a large bag, and tells Frank she is going to her mothers. This is because Denny insisted that she either come off The Pill and pack in her literature course, or leave him. She decided to leave him as the course is very important to her and she is beginning to discover herself.
Rita then tries to change the subject and asks Frank what he thought of her Macbeth essay. He tells her that it is really good, honest and an "passionate account," but in the examinations it would be "worthless. " Rita insists that Frank should teach her properly as she wants to write proper essays, like the ones the "proper students" write, and she wants to pass exams. Frank tells her that in order to write
essay like that and pass exams she would have to change and he doesn't want her to change, "But I don't know if I want to teach you.
What you already have is valuable. " Rita asks Frank if this is his way of saying she isn't good enough, and he informs her that is not that case. Therefore she demands he teaches her, so, the scene and act ends with her sitting down ready to be tutored. Willy Russell wrote 'Educating Rita' in two Acts. These Acts being totally different from each other. In the first act Rita totally relies on Frank to give her the education she wants in order to discover herself. Frank becomes more sexually attracted to Rita throughout the act, but Rita doesn't see Frank in that way.
Then suddenly in Act 2, when Rita is more educated, she doesn't need Frank to guide her anymore but he needs her more as he loves her. In a way, it could be said that they have switched roles. Their language also changes as in Act 1; Frank's language reflects his status of an educated, middle-class person. Also, Rita's language shows she is from the working-class and is uneducated. She doesn't use Standard English but instead speaks slang in her scouse accent, "I am comin' in aren't I... Y' wanna get it fixed. " In Act 2, Frank begins to copy Rita's choice of language, "Sod them - no, fuck them, fuck them, eh; Rita.
Rita's choice of language also changes as she tries to become more like Frank and speak in Standard English, "I have merely decided to speak properly. " Rita now pronounces
her words correctly. This exchanging of language shows that audience how close they have become. In the gap between the acts, Rita heads off to London to go to a summer school, and Frank goes on holiday to France. When she returns Frank hopes that as she was caught up enjoying herself, shopping, going out and visiting markets she may not have had much time to work. And no work means no change.
He is disappointed when she tells him she had loads of time and worked extremely hard. The audience can see that she has changed; this is shown through her new clothes, her gain of confidence and she has also stopped smoking. Frank has also changed. He has started to write his poetry again, which Rita is very pleased about. Unfortunately though, he went through a bad time when Rita was away, as his partner, Julia, left him. He is still heavily drinking, which disappoints Rita as she thought he might have given time to make changes himself in her absence, "Why d' y' do it when y've so much goin' for y' Frank? In the gap, Rita moves in with her new flatmate, Trish.
Trish has a major influence on Rita and she looks up to her as a role model. Rita wants to be more like Trish, therefore, she tries to talk posh, "As Trish says there is no point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice. " Frank informs Rita she hasn't got an ugly voice and she should just be herself. Throughout Act 2, we see that Rita becomes more confident and begins to accept herself. This is shown through
her use of language, as she doesn't try to change the way she speaks anymore and returns to talk in her liverpudlian accent.
At the beginning of Act 2, Frank tries to introduce Rita to a new poet but is surprised to find that she has already studied Blake at summer school. She shows that she is becoming properly educated when talking to Frank about what she did at summer school. Frank doesn't like this. She tells him about the conversations that she had with one of the tutors there who ask her if she was fond of Ferlinghettei and she said that previously she would have replied, "Only when it's served with Parmesan cheese," but now because she is more educated and had a lot more confidence she replied, "Actually, I'm not too familiar with the American poets.
She also uses words like analogy, parody and tragedy, whereas in Act 1, she didn't even know what assonance meant. This shows Rita's change in language, which is instantly recognisable by the audience, and also shows her gain of knowledge. Frank is going through a bad time. He has split up with his partner and his is unhappy with his job. But, his biggest problem is that he realises now that Rita has changed and he can't do anything about it. He blames himself for giving her an educated in the first place, as he knew this would change her. Rita senses Frank's troubles and offers to open the window to let some fresh air in.
This is a metaphor as in Act 1, Frank described Rita as "a breathe of fresh air" where here, by offering to open
the window, she is basically trying to support him and give him reassurance. But he doesn't want the window to be opened. This is because he wants Rita for love not just as a friend. In Scene 2, Rita has changed that little more. She enters speaking in a posh voice, "I have merely decided to talk properly. " She explains to Frank this is because Trish, her new flatmate, who is a big role model for Rita, told her, "there is no point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice.
Frank points out to Rita that she didn't have an ugly voice and Rita returns to speak in her Liverpudlian accent. Rita tells Frank that Tiger, her student friend, has invited her on holiday to France. Frank instantly reacts with jealously and makes excuses of why she wouldn't be able to go, "You can't go-you've got your exams. " This shocks Rita, but before she could go on about it, Frank interrupts and tells Rita that her essay "wouldn't look out of place" with the work of the proper students. Rita is pleased by this. The scene ends with Frank placing Rita's essay on the top of the pile of essays.
I believe this shows that he is giving up now as he is beginning to realise that the Rita he fell in love with is gone and isn't coming back. Scene 3 is important as it shows and confirms that Rita doesn't need Frank anymore. Frank is extremely drunk and falls off the rostrum whilst teaching his students. The students aren't happy with him or what he says but he doesn't care and describes
them as, "mealy-mouthed pricks. " Rita wants to save her tutorial until the following week because Frank is drunk. This shows she doesn't need Frank anymore as in Act 1, going to Frank every week meant everything to her.
Frank commented on Rita's essay on Blake and told her it would earn a high mark in an exam. This also shows Rita doesn't need him, as she knows what she needs to know now and doesn't need his education any longer. Also in this scene it is noticeable that Frank has chosen to speak in Rita's language, "`Completely off my cake. " He has also read 'Rubyfruit Jungle' Rita's favourite novel, this shows he is trying to be like her. As Rita is becoming more educated Frank is wondering where the girl that walked into his room and brought a breathe of fresh air into his life has gone.
Frank's confusions are similar to Denny's in Act 1, and his behaviour, such as getting drunk, is creating big problems for what is left of their relationship. At the beginning of Scene 4, Frank rings the hairdresser's shop to find out why Rita didn't turn up to her tutorial, only to find out she doesn't work there anymore. When he asks her why she didn't tell him she had changed jobs, she said she thought she had done but also that she is fed up of talking about "irrelevant rubbish. " Frank asks Rita whether Tiger is one of Rita's regular customers at her bistro and she tells him she finds her new friends fascinating.
Again, Frank replies with jealously and asks Rita whether she would prefer to stop
coming to the tutorials. She reassures him by saying, "For God's sake, I don't want to stop coming here. " But also she lets him know how she feels about his heavy drinking and tells him if he stopped, he "might be able to talk about things that matter instead of where I do or don't work. " Rita's change in job is a metaphor for her complete change in character. The scene closes with Frank asking Rita to look at his poetry.
This is Frank's idea of a test to see whether Rita is able to respond openly and honestly to it, which will confirm Rita's loss of uniqueness. Rita reads Frank's poetry with her flatmate, Trish, and in Scene 5 she praises him. Rita tells Frank that his poetry is "brilliant" and "full of style. " Frank sees now that Rita has lost her uniqueness as in Act 1 she probably would of described it as he does, "this clever, pyrotechnical pile of self-conscious allusion is worthless, talentless shit. " This is because in Act 1, Rita wouldn't have understood any of Frank's work, whereas, now she does.
