The Effectiveness of Willy Russell's Presentation of the School Trip in Our Day Out

The Effectiveness of Willy Russell's Presentation of the School Trip in Our Day Out

'Our day out' was written as a television play in 1977 but taken

directly from Willy Russell's personal experience of teaching in a

Liverpool comprehensive school in 1974. Not only does Willy Russell's

experience stem from his time in teaching but also from being a pupil

at two Liverpool comprehensive schools, leaving at 15 with no

qualifications. This gives him a good understanding of situations

described in the play from the point of view of both children and

teachers. Liverpool at that time had a large working class population

and a lot of poverty, with huge social problems. Unemployment was

growing and many of the children would have had little hope of a

career and a good future. In those days children without academic

aptitude in secondary education were often regarded as hopeless and

left to sink or swim. Russell fully understood this as it was his own

background.

I believe that the school trip in 'our day out' is realistic because,

not only is the characterisation excellent, both students and teachers

are portrayed honestly and are given a lot of depth for such a short

play, but also the dialogue is naturalistic. In addition, the general

set up for the play is quite believable, the teacher of a remedial

department organising a day trip, then at the last minute a

disciplinarian deputy head joining the party, creating a potential

recipe for disaster. However some of the events within the play are

obviously taken a step further for comic value. This reminds us that

this is a play, and therefore can not ever be completely realistic,

and must b...

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...s effectively. The central points

of the play are: firstly to highlight the problems facing children let

down by the British education system and society in an economic

recession; and secondly to make the point of Mrs Kay's philosophy that

the individual has a right to experience joy in life regardless of

their supposed potential within society. The fact that he uses his own

experiences and that the play is set in the Liverpool of his

upbringing gives greater realism to the action and makes it effective.

The final scene of the play, as Carol walks off down the road,

clutching her goldfish - a happy, smiling girl returning to her

deprived life, but with her new-found knowledge of its limitations -

is very poignant. She glances up to see Mr Briggs' car driving off

after he has made the decision to revert to his old self.