The Clash Of Cultures : Educating Rita

This paper is a critique of a production of The Last Night of Ballyhoo, a play written by Alfred Uhry, which was performed and produced by the Ball State University Theatre. Gilbert L. Bloom directed the production and was very successful with producing a truly entertaining, comedic play with an important message about the personal dilemmas that we as individuals with different beliefs and values must encounter in our daily lives.

Mrs Lyons was played exceptionally well; she helped me to understand several themes of the play-primarily class. Mrs Lyons was of a higher class, than Miss Johnston and this came through, through her movement-the manner in which, she manoeuvred around the stage. Mrs Lyons-unlike Miss Johnston would always walk with her head held high in the air and her shoulders back; her posture was always sustained and sharp, apart from when she began to derail mentally. Very often Mrs Lyons, would be alongside Miss Johnston-who was of a working class background, and through the actress’ characterization, I was able to see a contrast between the two women. This helped me to understand the theme of class.

He shares his narcissistic and egotistical behaviour with the snobby private school girl, however is portrayed as a 37 year old effeminate drama teacher. Mr G believes his students share his passion for drama, as he progressively turns their free time to, “G time.” As Mr G’s over inflated ego gets the better of him, he self-appoints himself as the Director of Performing Arts, enjoying the jurisdiction he has given himself. However, this newly self-appointed position creates conflict with other staff, especially the principal. These unusual acts produced by Lilley is what creates the foundation for his perspective on Australian humour, as an event as abnormal as this is almost unheard of in the education system. In addition to the over inflated ego, Mr G shares the discriminative behaviour of Ja’mie, targeting the disabled students of Summer Heights High during his drama teachings. He believes their damaged minds and bodies will tarnish his supposedly talented pieces of ‘art’. In the present day, such behaviour is unprecedented as we are pushed to assist the disabled in anyway, refraining from any form of criticism, making this type of humour unique. However, this unique type of comedy can be perceived as overly rude or so outlandish it’s

The situations and informal diction or vernacular in the play create an atmosphere of familiarity with the audience, and this familiarity helps the audience to realize that Troy, Rose, and Cory are just like them. Wilson’s technique of drawing the audience in is a method of breaking down social and racial barriers that existed during the time depicted in

Mrs Birling uses very distinctive language that is always class conscious. At the beginning of the play, Mr Birling asks the maid to give his compliments to the cook but Mrs Birling immediately replies, ?Arthur, you?re not supposed to say such things?? showing that she is very aware of the divisions between classes and the language used within these classes. Another

Educating Rita by Willy Russell explores the value of education, but also the wider education that takes place and how to use that education to your greatest benefit; not only during the school education but also the looking at the surrounding world. Rita, an uneducated lady, is unhappy with the limitations of her social class and feels that to escape the limitations she needs to get a properly recognised education. She therefore decides to do an Open University course in English literature. This she believes will greatly increase the horizons of her life and remove some of the limitations that she feels are imposed upon her. She wants to learn everything but soon discovers that even education has its limits. Frank, her tutor and lecturer,

In this play, the author Alan Bennett wants to convince the audience that education can be approached in many different ways. In fact, through the characters of Hector, Irwin, Dorothy Lintott and the headmaster, he shows us that there is no “right” or “wrong” way of teaching.

indeed a person who has a lot to say and Frank listens and responds to

Linda and Willy’s relationship in the play is characterized by deep love and affection, but Willy does not frequently show the physical manifestations of such feelings. After thirty-five years of marriage, both characters have come to know each other’s subtle quirks and dreams, but Linda’s thorough understanding of Willy cannot be reciprocated. At first glance, she resembles a stereotypical housewife who passively stays home while her husband maintains his role as the breadwinner of the family,

Willy Russell uses the contrast of characters to show the major difference in social class in the play Blood Brothers. Mrs Johnstone was the first character introduced to us in the play. In 'Blood Brothers ' Mrs Johnstone lives in a poor end of Liverpool, struggling to bring up eight children on her own and is forced to give one away to keep the others clothed and fed well enough, whereas Mrs Lyons, whom she works for, lives in a large house, very comfortably in a nice part of Liverpool, she wants children but is unable to have any, even though she is rich, unlike Mrs Johnstone. Mrs Johnstone is portrayed as a stereotypical working class mother. In the introductory song, Russell uses Mrs Johnstone to create this stereotype. "We got

During the play Cyrano de Bergerac there are often very deep and depressing moments and to pick the audience up Edmund Rostand used humor. This is seen in all of the acts throughout the play and is one of the main uses of humor in the play. This is not the only use of humor in this play it is also used by Cyrano to hide his insecurities. Throughout the play, Cyrano makes fun of his own nose to make it seem like he is comfortable with it and so others can not make fun of it. Humor definitely plays an important role in Cyrano de Bergerac and through this essay, I will be examining the role of Humor in the play in depth.

“The History Boys” and “Educating Rita” have common themes running through the spine of each text, regarding formal education and learning for self-satisfaction. The History boys tells the story of 8 academic working and middle class boys from a grammar school in Sheffield whom are applying for Oxford and Cambridge university in the 1980’s and are studying intensely to succeed. Their teachers, Hector and Irwin have a conflicting approach to education. Irwin teaches the boys specifically how to pass their exams but contrarily Hector teaching style encourages learning for the purpose of obtaining knowledge. Bennett comments on these differing types of education via the characters of Hector and Irwin. Educating Rita, set also in the 1980’s and located in Northern England is about a woman who enters the world of formal university education as a mature student on an Open University course. She has never had a strict and authentic education as she comes from a working class background, so she wants to prove to herself that she can triumph and live a better life. Both scripts imply that formal education can be obtained, however at the compromise of individual intellectual flare and distinctiveness. Initially in the text, Rita and the group of boys both are unrefined, raw and sincere with their way of viewing and analysing scholarly stimulus. However they both lose this quality as the plays progress due to the education system moulding them to pass exams and not to obtain wisdom.

is not quite good enough. Rita wants to be of a higher status than her

Educating Rita tells a story of a 26-year-old married hairdresser, Rita, who decided to get education by taking a course in English literature from the Open University. Through the development of the relationship between Rita and her alcoholic and cynical tutor, Frank, this story brings up many concepts in adult development and education. After watching the movie, I have a further understanding of the concepts of changes, motivation to learn, freedom, and stability.

The Effect of Summer School on Rita in Educating Rita by Willy Russell 'Of course; you don't do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y?' When Frank explains to Rita that after summer school they will study William Blake, Rita says that she has already studied Blake and implies in such a way that she almost disgraces Frank. Before summer school Rita has only been taught Frank and has only learnt his ideas, when she gains her own confidence she then challenges Frank on his views to do with poetry by telling him about William Blake. This confidence reflects the effect which summer school ultimately had upon Rita. Willy Russell was born in Whiston, near Liverpool, England, in 1947.