Achieving Humor in Educating Rita by Willy Russell Essay -- Educating

Achieving Humor in Educating Rita by Willy RussellWritten by Willy Russell in 1985, Educating Rita is a comical recital of his own life as a young Liverpudlian hairdresser andhis aspirations to become educated. The play is based on Rita, thehairdresser who wants a better life, and begins this impale byenrolling in an Open University course. It is here she meets hertutor, Frank. You could say, the key to her dreams. If I were todirect this play, I would seek to achieve humour for an audience byexploring the different views of drollery comedy of character, comedyof situation, comedy of misunderstanding and comedy of language.There are many examples of comedy of character in this play,especially as Russell has created such vigorous and impressionablecharacters. Rita, the quick tongued, outspoken, witty character is afoundation for humour as she isnt afraid to speak her mind.An excellent example of her humorous character is Ritas eldest meetingwith Frank, her soon-to-be tutor. As sh e enters his office, shenotices a risqui picture on the wall and is unable to resistcommenting on how Its very erotic. and defending her opinion bysaying theres no suppose about it, and using the imperative, Lookat those tits. The audience should find this humorous as it is asthey would be shocked at her sudden enlargement to an authority figurein the play. However, in order to achieve maximum humour for theaudience, I would emphasize Ritas Liverpudlian accent and Rita wouldspeak naturally to show her openness and her self-confidence. Franks reception to Ritas outburst is also vital if humour is to be achieved.Frank is rather unsettled by Ritas confidence and to show this, hisreaction should be delayed and bewildered to show his inability to keepup with Ritas quick tongue. It is imperative that this scene givesthe audience the impression that this play is humorous, as it is thefirst time the audience meets the characters.Franks view towards Rita is another good example of comedy ofcharacter. As a tutor in an university, the audience would expectFrank to be very formal, however, he isnt in this situation. Frankreveals his comic personality to the audience as he discusses a windowin his office to Rita. He tells her that he sometimes get an instigate tothrow something through it usually a stu... ...tesdramatically. Sod them - no, fuck them This shows how similar Frankand Rita can be no matter how well educated of senior high school class Frank is. Inorder to maximise humour, Frank would be excessive and over the top toshow the effect of alcohol on Frank. comedy of situation is used throughout the play and is used withdifferent aspects of comedy, such as when Rita first entered Franksoffice at the beginning of the play and Ritas use of language. It is catchy to have comedy of situation on its own, so I would do whatRussell did, combine it with another aspect for maximum comedy effect.Willy Russell has used every aspect of comedy to their full advantageand has achieved highlighting class differences through comedy. WhenRussell wrote the play, he wrote it to be performed and wrote stagedirections too. Personally, I would not change that because that isthe way he intend it to be, but I would concentrate on bodylanguage, facial expressions and how they talk, e.g. the tone. So, ifI were directing Educating Rita I would seek to achieve humour forthe audience? Simply by exploring the different aspects of comedy thatWilly Russell has used so well.