DARK ACADEMIA
An essay for The Cambridge Critique by Tia Byer
My recent review of David Mamet’s 1992 Oleanna at The Arts Theatre Cambridge got me to thinking about the peculiar power struggle in teacher-student relationships in other works of theatre. The ominous dynamic to which I refer is specifically the type of mentorship that seems to lend itself to darker connotations of abuse of knowledge and power. In Oleanna, Mamet calls it “the curse of modern education” and for professor and main character John, it reflects the hypocrisy of the collegiate system; “the notion that I know, and you do not”.
Although Oleanna is very much a play about sexual harassment and accusation, the drama also explores the perils of academic pomposity, for both student and teacher alike. Another play that follows a similar theme but to perhaps a less sinister degree is Willy Russell’s 1980 Educating Rita.
Unlike in Oleanna where John’s arrogance betrays the mocking of his educational prestige to be only empty attempts of self-abasement, the self-abasement English Literature Professor Frank experiences in Educating Rita, is all too real. In this article, I want to compare these two male leads, exploring how each play’s approach to the educational system they represent, determines the extent to which their reluctant mentorships become fraught with complex interpersonal dynamics.
Both John and Frank are reluctant mentors. And when, in Mamet’s words, erosion of “the artificial stricture [between] teacher and student” soon follows, we see both professors learn a lot more than they bargained for. John’s verbose arrogance lands him in a war of weaponized political correctness. Frank’s despondency towards work, writing, and the world in general becomes radically challenged when determined and enigmatic prodigy Rita reminds him of beauty still to be found in literature and life. So, with two different plays; one a tragedy and one a comedy, and two very different sets of characters, how can we compare Oleanna and Educating Rita?
One notable comparison between the two professor figures is their sense of detachment. In Oleanna, John’s academic notoriety is symbolized by his upcoming award of tenure. But this great power and prestige have left him irresponsible. He seems distracted, far removed from his primary duties as a teacher. In the opening scene, we already observe John caught up in a phone call, whilst struggling and upset Carol patiently waits on the sofa. We don’t even hear speak for the first five minutes of the play. It’s just John on the phone with his wife, trying to secure a deposit for the big fancy house he is going to buy to celebrate his promotion. When John finally does turn his attention to Carol, he gets interrupted by the phone, which he answers. He even promises his wife that he will be leaving in 10 minutes. This is all in full earshot of Carol who we assume at this point has come to see her tutor for help. Immediately, John’s intentions are clear, he want out of the meeting asap; he has more pressing matters to attend to.
Frank’s detachment comes in the form of disenchantment with his academic career. His identity as a somewhat pathetic figure and a poor excuse for a teacher become apparent in the opening scene. Educating Rita opens with the following stage directions “Frank, a university lecturer in English Literature in his early fifties, is surveying the bookshelves of his study in search of something. He eventually finds a bottle of whiskey behind several volumes of novels by Charles Dickens and pours the last few inches into a mug”. Though from a well-educated background and a poet by nature, Frank lost all enthusiasm for life since his wife left him 15 years prior. He even admits to having written specifically love poetry but now he has “stopped writing altogether”. Instead, he prefers a cynical existence, explaining how “life is such a rich and frantic whirl that I need the drink to help me step delicately through it”.
When Rita, a rambunctious hairdresser enrols on an Open University course in English Literature at the University of Liverpool, Frank outright tells her “I’m actually an appalling teacher”. Rita doesn’t listen, however. She views education as leading to a better life, and the educated as a happier class of people. Rita explains, “By y’ mates, y’ family, by everyone. So y’ never admit that school could be anythin’ other than useless an’ irrelevant”. For Rita, gaining a degree will broaden her horizons and allow her to escape the pressures of becoming a mother. “See, I don’t want a baby yet. I wanna find myself first, discover myself”, she explains. Whilst Frank sympathizes with Rita and her desire to escape her narrow confides of working-class married life, he makes an uncompromising deal with her. Frank’s bargain is as follows; “I’ll teach you everything I know…but if I do that then you must promise never to come back here”. His reasoning, he tells Rita, is “because there’s nothing here for you!”. Frank finds Rita’s admiration of institutional learning troubling. He lays bare his deficiencies and cautions, “you, young woman, you are quite, quite different, you are seeking a very great deal indeed; and I’m afraid I cannot provide it. Everything I know—and you must listen to this—is that I know absolutely nothing”. Her views are completely at odds with his, and he justifiably warns her of the fact.
Whilst Frank’s bargain with Rita is largely transparent, John’s proposition to Carol is anything but. When John does start to listen to Carol and her frustrations, he begins to feel complicit in her feelings of inadequacy. “What do you want me to do”, he asks. “Teach me. I want you to teach me”, Carol implores. The more Carol explains her reasons for booking a tutorial with her professor, the more upset she gets. “I don’t understand what anything means, and I walk around from morning till night… with this one thought in my head…I’m stupid”. John starts to feel bad for her, but when he puts her confusion down to “some basic missed communication”, Carol’s emotions escalate. “I’m doing what I’m told”, she snaps back. And continues with “I bought your book”. John feels responsible and wants a do-over. He has been caught up in what he deems the disreputable “reasons for the pursuit of higher education…the wish for mastery of a skill” and “economic betterment”. To make amends John promises to give Carol an A if only she agrees to ‘meet with’ him weekly to discuss the course material. But what intends to be an academic olive branch, a reclamation of John’s duty as a teacher to his struggling student soon entangles him into a nightmare of misperception, insensitivity, and even accused sexual assault.
In the next scene, John discovers that Carol has filed a complaint of attempted rape against him, and invites her back in to discuss the reasoning behind such claims that could threaten his tenure. Through Carol’s official written accusation, the power and slipperiness of language become apparent. When John reads the account aloud, the audience gets to revisit the events of the previous scene. And though the accusation of sexual assault initially appears incendiary, when framed by John’s condescending and self-righteous comments, his entitlement develops an undeniably sinister tone. Carol takes the opportunity to fight back, forcefully naming her professor’s flaws. The most cutting accusation comes in the following lines:
Do you know what you’ve worked for? Power! For power. Do you understand? And you sit there and tell me stories about your house… and all about private schools and privilege… and how are entitled to buy, to spend…to mock, to summon.
For Carol, it is hypocritical that John should question the very collegiate system that provides him a platform to promote his views. And while the pressing questions of whether John’s sexual harassment is predicated on fact or fiction, and Carol justified in her accusations, will divide audiences, one message is clear; unchecked self-importance is destructive by nature and can have damaging effects on those who it impacts.
The Pygmalion storyline of Educating Rita presents Rita and Frank’s relationship as somewhat troubling. After restoring his faith in his worth as a teacher, Frank confesses to care for Rita. He says, “right now there’s a thousand things I’d rather do than teach; most of them with you, young lady”. He sees Rita as a “breath of fresh air” and values her unmitigated and unspoiled intelligence. Although Frank never physically acts on his attraction, (he is in fact in a committed relationship with another former student, Julia) he becomes increasingly jealous of Rita’s progress. When Rita begins to outgrow Frank and his unconventional teaching, their relationship starts to break down. The transition between Act One and Act Two exemplify this distinct change. During the play’s interval, Rita attends an educational summer camp, where she has made friends and gains confidence in her academic abilities. She has even adopted a more sophisticated vocabulary and changes her name to Susan. Frank interprets her newfound independence as a form of usurpation and accuses her of such when she is late to class after “talking to some students down on the lawn”.
By the end of the play, Frank’s drinking has gotten out of hand. And he has been forced to take a two-year sabbatical in Australia on account of his disorderly behaviour on campus. Rita too is facing some major challenges in her educational career. When a friend, who is both educated and “proper”, attempts suicide, Rita is forced to revaluate her approach to life and the capital she has placed on higher learning. In the final scene, Rita tells Frank, in his now empty study, “you think you gave me nothing, did nothing for me…you think I just ended up with a load of quotes an’ empty phrases; an’ I did”. She does not resent Frank but blames herself for having expected too much. Educating Rita ends with Rita also having to come to terms with the artificial distinctions of university education.
The mentor-mentee relationship is a highly complex and slippery enigma. It has the power to shape, form, improve, and teach. It also has the potential to blur distinctions in professionalism, eroding boundaries, and giving way to the inappropriate. In David Mamet’s Oleanna and Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, these teacher-student relationships are symbiotic: they work both ways. Each features a role reversal where the student becomes the master. However, the significance of Rita and Carol’s self-actualization of course differs considerably. Rita’s charisma and drive have the power to instill self-worth into cynic Frank. Carol’s determination and the backing she receives from her mysterious “group”, has the power to destroy John’s life and career, as well as declare war on the politically incorrect. With the premium traditionally placed on academics and the ‘Academy’, is it any wonder that literary mentorships have the potential to metamorphosize into something troubling and sometimes monstrous?
