![]() He asks what she wants to see and she says she saw an advertisement for a production of the Importance of Being Ernest at a church hall. She tries again, saying they will call up Julia. Rita muses that he never seems to tell the whole truth rather, he evades it by making jokes. He also says Julia would be jealous if he went to the theater with an “irresistible thing like you” (40). He says she ought to, and when she suggests going together he says he hates the theater. He says not as much, and that he was not a good poet because he was trying to create literature.Īfter moving into Chekov for a bit, Frank asks Rita if she has ever been to the theater, to which she replies she has not. She wonders if he always used to drink, such as when he was a poet. Rita asks about his alcohol and he says he does love to drink because one is never bored and one is never boring. She won’t lie down and die for him, and won’t embrace his mindset that they already have choices just because they can choose different beers or satellite channels.įrank wants to talk more about this at the pub but Rita insists they stay here so she can learn. She tells Frank that this course is giving her life, and Denny only wants to take life away from her. When asked if she wants to abandon the course, Rita emphatically says no. Frank asks if she loves him, and she replies that she sees him wondering where the girl he married is. Frank asks slowly what Denny said, and she says that she came back in the room and Denny was burning her books and papers. She says of course not and she has told Denny about him, that he is just her teacher and gives her room to breathe. ![]() She says her husband is acting like she is having an affair, and Frank asks if perhaps he thinks she is having an affair with him. She apologizes for the books but Frank tells her not to worry. He assumes she hasn’t done it, but she says she does not have it, or the books on Chekov, because Denny got mad at her schooling and burnt them all up. ![]() He asks where her essay is, and she says she hasn’t got it. Rita stares out the window and Frank irritably asks why she cannot just come in and get started. Frank stares at her as she radiates pride and accomplishment. It says she would put it on radio because Ibsen himself always wanted it to be a play for voices and not in the theater. She finishes it and hands it to him, beaming. Frank points out that she has done a good job of “connecting” literature to life and such, and she realizes that in Peer Gynt no one connects well. She scoffs and says she hates politics and wants to study art and literature because it gets to her insides and makes her stronger. She says she sees no culture, that everyone is on drugs and trying to get from day to day –that there is no meaning in anything and everyone accepts their reality of burnt houses and vandalism and care only about the quest to buy more and more things.įrank pauses and asks if she wants to take a politics class. He says of course they do and she asks if he means working class culture, to which he assents awkwardly. Rita asks Frank if Peer Gynt was looking for the meaning of life, and when he says yes distractedly, starts to talk about a customer of hers whom she told about the book and was interested in it.Ī moment later she says to Frank, “Well, we’ve got no culture” (32) in regards to her own people. They are quiet, working on their separate projects. He asks her to take some time now to answer it fully. ![]() Frank says it is not an essay, and tries to explain the ritual and the rules of writing a response to a question like this. She says she had to write it at work because her husband Denny gets mad when she does coursework at home. Rita wrote simply, “Do it on the radio” (29) and Frank tells her this is not enough. Frank says he wants to talk to her about her essay on Peer Gynt, which was to answer the question: Suggest how you might resolve the staging difficulties inherent in a production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. ![]() She is flustered and full of apologies for being late, blaming a customer at work. Frank is reading at his desk and Rita enters. ![]()
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