The play, Our Day Out, written by Willy Russell is set in the inner city of Liverpool in the mid 1970’s. Willy Russell chronicles a school outing to Conwy Castle with the school progress class. The progress class has a very bleak future and is underacheivers of their school. The title ‘ Day Out’ reflects the poverty they are in, so a good day for them is more than they can expect. The two main characters in the play, Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs have opposing views on the childrens education and their future. Mrs. Kay, the motherly and caring teacher believes in liberalism- she is tolerant on the wide range of behaviour standards in the class.
Mr. Briggs, however, has a more traditional view on the childrens education. He is stricter and expects the pupils to respect authority, conform and work hard whatever their ability. In this essay I will discuss these points of view, I will do this by analysing what they say, the actions they do and the conversions they have with the pupils and other members of staff. In addition I will give my opinion. Mr. Briggs is an authoritarian; discipline and control is important in his working career.
The quote that supports this point is, “ sit down, now, come on move! this shows that Briggs is very demanding as well as controlling to the children. This reveals that he has no respect for the children and lacks an amount of humility towards his pupils. In scene twenty, Mr. Briggs reminds Mrs. Kay his role on the day trip, “ The Boss thought it might be a good idea if you had an extra member of staff. ” this demonstrates that he is in a position of power and supremacy.
This also subtly gives the impression that Mrs. Kay cannot take on the responsibility to take the children on a day out on her own. In the play Mr. Briggs expects the pupils to know about the architecture of the buildings, “ Look, those buildings. Don’t you even bother to look at what’s around you? ” this shows that Mr. Briggs is out of touch with the progress class and does not realise the amount of education that the children lack. This is because Mr. Briggs is middle class and imagined that the pupils, who are working class to make out about the architecture. It also reflects to Mr. Briggs personality as conceited and arrogant. On the contrary Mrs. Kay is more of a friendly and pleasant teacher, who is less formal.
Unlike Mr. Briggs she persuades the children rather than demanding. “ Now let’s not have any silly name-calling” Mrs. Kay has a low tone of voice when she addresses to the children. Mr. Brigg’s however always addresses the children with a high tone of voice, he is always shouting at them. This shows the contrast between Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Kay. In order to keep the children happy for the time being, she makes the children have a good day out. Whereas Mr. Briggs want the children to achieve something in a discipline way. Mrs. Kay has lost hope for the children.