Educating Rita Page #8

what you can't bear

is that I'm educated now.

I've got what you have

and you don't like it.

I mean, good God, I don't need you.

I've got a room full of books!

I know what wine to buy,

what clothes to wear, what plays to see,

what papers to read,

and I can do it without you.

Is that all you wanted? Have you come

all this way for so very, very little?

Oh, yeah, it's little to you, isn't it, Frank?

Little to you who squanders

every opportunity

and mocks and takes it for granted.

Found a culture, have you, Rita?

Found a better song to sing?

No.

You found a different song to sing.

And, on your lips,

it is shrill and hollow and tuneless.

Oh, Rita, Rita, Rita.

Ohhhh, Rita!

Nobody calls me Rita but you.

I dropped that pretentious crap

as soon as I saw it for what it was.

Nobody calls me Rita.

What is it now, then, eh?

Emily or Charlotte or Jane or Virginia?

Trish!

Trish!

Come on, we're gonna be late!

Trish?

Trish!

God.

Ambulance, quick.

- Hello, Dr Bryant.

- Hello, Mr Tyson.

Hello, Doctor.

Oh! A table for one, please.

Sorry, we're full.

- Oh. I'll have a drink at the bar.

- You've had enough.

- I haven't.

- You have.

- I wanna talk to Rita.

- Never heard of her.

- She works here.

- You must have the wrong place.

- I'm telling you, Rita works here.

- Come on, out.

- No.

- Yes.

- Hello, Dr Bryant. What's wrong?

- He's pissed.

- Mr Tyson, where's Rita?

- I told you...

It's all right.

- Have you seen Rita? She works here.

- You mean Susan?

Oh, yes, I suppose I do.

She hasn't been in this evening.

I forgot to remind her

that her exam is tomorrow.

She might be up at the Flamingo.

Oh. Well, thank you, Mr Tyson.

- Don't you think you're a bit...

- If you see her, will you tell her it's 9am?

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Why?

Darling, why not?

Oh, Trish, don't. Come on, it's all right,

don't cry. You're still here.

That's why I'm crying -

it didn't work.

It didn't bloody work.

Trish.

Look, you didn't really mean

to kill yourself.

- You were just...

- Just what, darling?

Poor Susan.

You think I've got everything, don't you?

Trish, you have.

Oh, yes.

When I listen to poetry and music...

then I can live.

You see, darling, the rest of the time,

it's just me.

That's not enough.

Whoo!

Hey!

Do you know a girl called Rita?

Forget Rita, I don't wanna

see you drinking.

Dr Bryant, what are you doing here?

- Lesley, have you seen Rita?

- What?

- Have you seen Rita?

- Come and dance!

- No, I can't!

- Come on!

I can't dance! I can't! No!

Bursar!

Wake up, Bursar!

Come on, man!

Ah!

Bursar! Join me for a drink.

Dr Bryant!

- Go to bed.

- Right.

I will.

Good night, Bursar.

Susan! Where are you going?

- For a walk.

- Do you want a lift? Come on.

- No, it's all right, I'd rather walk.

- You missed a great party.

Yeah, well. I'll see ya.

- I saw your tutor.

- What?

Your exam's this morning.

Oh.

Don't forget you're coming to France.

Susan!

Oh, hiya, Denny.

- Oh, this is Barbara.

- Hello.

- Susan.

- How are ya?

- OK.

- When's it due?

- I've got another three months now.

- It's gonna be a boy.

- I hear you're doing well at the college.

- Well, you know.

I hardly recognised you,

you look the part.

Doesn't she, eh? Look the real student.

Be on drugs and demonstrations next!

Right, well, we gotta go. Going down

to the hospital for the checkup.

- I always go with her.

- It's good to see you, Denny.

Take care of yourself.

And look after them two.

Oh, he does, you know, he's very good.

- Ta-ra.

- See ya.

At 9am precisely,

I shall instruct you to turn over

your examination papers

and the examination will have begun.

You have three hours.

You may not talk to anyone.

It is now nine o'clock. Please commence.

Have they sacked you?

- Not quite.

- Oh.

Well, why are you

packing your books up?

I made rather a night of it last night

so they're giving me a holiday.

Two years in Australia.

Did you bugger the Bursar?

- Metaphorically.

- What are you gonna do?

What do you think?

Australia is a paradise for the likes of me.

Christ's sakes,

why did you come back here?

I came to tell you you're a good teacher.

Oh!

Thanks for entering me for the exam.

That's all right.

I know what it had come to mean to you.

You didn't want me to take it, did you?

I nearly didn't. I sat there for ages.

I sat there thinking

while everyone was scribbling away,

thinking about what you said,

about what you'd done for me.

- What I've done for you...

- Shut up.

I'm doing the talking. Frank, that's what's

wrong with you - you talk too much!

You think you did nothing for me,

you think I just ended up

with a load of quotes and empty phrases.

Well, all right, I did

but that wasn't your doing.

I was too hungry for it all.

I didn't question anything.

I wanted it all too much

so I wouldn't let it be questioned.

Told you I was stupid.

- You're not stupid.

- If I say I'm stupid then I'm stupid, OK?

So don't argue.

I mean...

It's like Trish. You know?

I thought she was so cool and together.

I got home last night,

she'd tried to top herself.

Yeah. Magic, isn't it?

Spent half her life eating health food

and wholefood to live longer

and the other half trying to kill herself.

So I was thinking about it all

when I should've been doing my exam.

Do you know what

the first question was?

"Suggest ways in which one might deal

"with some of the staging difficulties

in a production of Ibsen's Peer Gynt. "

- And you wrote, "Do it on the radio"?

- No, I could've done.

You'd have been dead proud of me

if I'd done that, wouldn't you?

But I chose not to.

I had a choice. I did the exam.

Because of what you'd given me,

I had a choice.

Anyway...

that's what I wanted to come back

and tell you. You're a good teacher.

I hear good things about Australia.

Everything out there is just beginning.

The thing is...

why don't you come as well?

It would be good to leave a country

that's finishing for one that's beginning.

God, Frank, if you could get threepence

back on those bottles

you could buy Australia.

- You're being evasive.

- I know.

Tiger's asked me to go to France

with his mob.

- Will you go?

- I dunno.

He's a bit of a wanker, really.

But I've never been abroad.

I've been offered a job

in London, as well.

- What are you going to do?

- I dunno.

I might go to France,

I might go to London.

Or just stay here

and carry on with me studies.

I might even stay here and have a baby.

I don't know.

I'll make a decision.

I'll choose. I dunno.

Well, whatever you do,

you might as well take this with you.

- What is it?

- It's a dress, really.

I bought it for an educated

woman friend of mine.

It may not fit,

I was rather pissed when I bought it.

An educated woman? What kind

of education were you giving her?

In choosing it, I concentrated

on the word "woman"

- rather than on the word "educated".

- Thank you.

All I've ever done is take from you.

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