![]() ( Beat.) Sometimes, when y’ hear the old ones tellin’ stories about the past, y’ know, about the war or when they were all strugglin’, fightin’ for food and clothes and houses, their eyes light up while they’re tellin y’ because there was some meanin’ then. Because that is when you’ve got to decide whether it’s gonna be another change of dress or a change in yourself. Y’ say, ‘Is this it? Is this the absolute maximum that I can expect from this livin’ lark?’ An’ that’s the really big moment that is. Till one day, you just stop an’ own up to yourself. An’ so y’ keep on goin’, tellin’ y’self that life is great-there’s always another club to go to, a new feller to be chasin’, a laugh an’ a joke with the girls. ’Cos there’s always something that can make y’ forget. But I’d just put the music back on or buy another dress an’ stop worryin’. But at the same time, there was always somethin’ tappin’ away in my head, tryin’ to tell me I might have got it all wrong. Not that I didn’t go along with it because I did. An’ what you’ve really got to be into are things like music an’ clothes and getting’ pissed an’ coppin’ off an’ all that kind of stuff. So y’ never admit that school could be anythin’ other than useless an’ irrelevant. Rita: By y’ mates, y’ family, by everyone. Rita: See, if I’d started takin’ school seriously then I would have had to become different from my mates an’ that’s not allowed. An’ anyway, I wouldn’t mind but it’s the aristocracy who swear more than anyone, isn’t it, they’re effing and blinding all day long with them it’s all, ‘I say, the grouse is particularly fucking lovely today although I’m afraid the spuds are a bit bollocks don’t you think?’ ( She sighs.) But y’ can’t tell them that round our way. But these stuck-up ones I meet, they think they’re royalty just because they don’t swear. But it doesn’t cause any kind of fuss with educated people though, does it? Because they know it’s only words and they don’t worry. I do it to shock them sometimes y’ know if I’m in the hairdresser’s-that’s where I work-I’ll say somethin’ like ‘I’m as fucked as a fanny on a Friday night!’ and some of the customers, they’ll have a right gob on them just ’cos I come out with something like that. But that’s because they’re ignorant it’s not their fault, I know that, but sometimes they drive me mental. See, the properly educated, they know it’s only words, don’t they? It’s only the masses who don’t understand. By the end of the play, Frank’s drinking problem gets the better of him, and the university forces him to take a two-year sabbatical in Australia. In turn, his dissatisfaction with academic life mingles with his romantic feelings for Rita, ultimately causing him to resent her when she starts to live the life of a cultured academic instead of a witty working-class woman. Because he values her unmitigated intelligence, Frank urges Rita to remain true to herself, not wanting her to erase herself in an attempt to become an intellectual. Thankfully, he never physically acts on these feelings, but he does sometimes allow his interest in her to interfere with his role as her teacher, as he tries to keep Rita from changing herself too much. ![]() Although Frank lives with his girlfriend, Julia (a former student of his), it isn’t long before he develops romantic feelings for Rita. Likewise, he comes to appreciate her unique mind, believing that her untrained intelligence is spectacular. However, she refuses to leave because she admires his unconventional methods. When Rita asks Frank to tutor her, for instance, he tells her that he knows “absolutely nothing,” and that she’d be better off if she didn’t study with him. In the years since, he has started drinking heavily and doubting the value of his role as an educator. Frank used to be a little-known but well-respected poet, but he stopped writing when his wife left him. ![]() ![]() A professor in his mid-fifties who takes on Rita as a student.
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