the plays follows the relationship between 26-year-old student rita and frank, a middle-aged university lecturer. rita is a liverpudlian working class hairdresser. it follows them over a year. act 1 consists of seven scenes. these run from january to may. act 2 consists of a further seven. these run from september to december. in the play frank has no surname. when the film was made he became dr. frank bryant.