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Willy
Russell’s
Blood Brothers tells the story of fraternal twins who are separated at birth.
Their lives are worlds apart until destiny brings them back together.
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Set
in Liverpool, the show begins with the tragic ending swiftly followed by the
introduction of Mrs Johnstone, the first blighted mother, by the Narrator. This
woman already has a gaggle of wayward children and when her husband
decides to leave her and she discovers she is pregnant yet again with twins, it
seems all hope is lost. |
Enter
Mrs Lyons; Mrs Johnstone works as a cleaner in her luxurious home on the
other
side of town and it transpires that she is unable to have children and is
desperate for a baby. It does not take long for the inevitable to arise; Mrs
Lyons begs Mrs Johnstone to give one of the new babies to her so that she can
trick her husband into believing she conceived before he went away on business.
Mrs Johnstone eventually warms to the idea and they make a pact, swearing on the
bible that neither will ever reveal the truth.
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The babies are born and all goes to plan; Mrs Johnstone keeps Mickey and Edward is brought up by Mr and Mrs Lyons. The brothers grow up at opposite ends of the social scale, Eddie in a respectable area with everything money can buy, and Mickey on a council estate.
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The twins reach the age of seven before they become aware of each other's existence and become best friends and “blood brothers”. Although they soon learn that they share the same birthday they of course remain unaware that they are in fact real brothers. They team up with Linda, another child on Mickey’s estate, and the three become firm friends, Mickey and Linda forever leading Edward into mischief. Mickey, Eddie, Linda and all the other children are played by the same actors as they develop into adulthood, thus adults play children in the first half of the show. This makes for some hilarious scenes and truly great theatrical moments. It also gives the players the chance to demonstrate their acting talents and abilities to the full. |
The
show traces Mickey and Eddies' development from boys to adolescents, adolescents
to men. We see Eddie sent to private school and Mickey following the bad example
of his older brother Sammy by getting into trouble at school and later with the
police. The boys lose touch for several years when Mr and Mrs Lyons forbid
Edward to see Mickey for obvious reasons, but fate brings them together again at
the age of fifteen when they rekindle their friendship.
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The
Narrator moves the story on; throughout he has been issuing warnings to the two
mothers, appearing as their voices of consciousness and quietly observing
everything. The teenagers grow older, Eddie persuades Mickey to ask Linda out
and once again the three become inseparable. |
When
they reach eighteen things start to turn sour. Edward goes away to university
and Mickey gets Linda pregnant. They are married in Eddie's absence and
Mickey is made redundant from his factory job. He starts to resent Eddie’s
wealth and good fortune and rejects his offers of help and kindness.
Desperate for money, he makes the mistake of assisting villainous brother
Sammy with an armed robbery and is caught, arrested and sent to jail for
seven years. He is released early but is suffering from acute depression and reliant on
medication. Unable to communicate with him and breaking under the pressure,
Linda seeks solace in Eddie. He has recently become Counselor Lyons and has
always carried a torch for Linda; the two embark on an even deeper friendship.
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One day, Mrs Johnstone sees Eddie and Linda together and makes the grave mistake of telling Mickey. He wrongly assumes they are having an affair and armed with his brother’s gun, rushes to a meeting that Eddie is chairing at the Town Hall. Mickey bursts in to tell Eddie exactly what he thinks of him but has no real intention of killing him. Mrs Johnstone is the next to burst in, along with two armed policeman. Seeing Mickey with the gun and panicking, she blurts the truth about the brothers. Mickey erupts with anger and disbelief, losing control of the gun and simultaneously an armed policeman takes action. Catastrophe strikes in line with the old wives tale uttered by Mrs Lyons near the beginning of the show and the Narrator has his final word..... |
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