Write A Review of the Production at the Phoenix Theatre, London

Freeze frames are another dramatic technique that Blood Brothers use. Freeze frames are important in this play because they give a moment of fear and tension within the musical. They use the freeze frames at the tenses moments in the play so that you think what will happen next. An example of this would be at the beginning of the play when you see the two boys in their coffins and people weeping around them. This creates tension throughout the musical.

Jordan Clement G.C.S.E. Coursework 20/01/20021

Adults play the Children in Blood Brothers; this is so you can relate to the character when they grow older. If you can relate to the same character throughout the play you feel more emotionally depressed and miserable when they go through the trials of life. The adults playing children also adds to the comedy of the musical. The clothes that the actors wear resemble their caricatured age. For example when Edward's actor was young he wore a school uniform but when he was eighteen he wore a suit.

Other ways of adding tension, dramatic irony and humour within this play is through the lyrics of the songs in the play. For example in the very first song you hear is, by Mrs. Johnstone and about her life so far. You are told about her life though in a humorous way.

"Then the baby came along,

We called him Darren Wayne,

Then three months on I found that I was in the club again.

An' though I still fancied dancing,

My husband wouldn't go,

With a wife he said was twice the size of Marilyn Monroe."

From the example above you know that Mrs. Johnstone had a baby (Darren Wayne) and was pregnant within three months after that. This tells you that Mrs. Johnstone was unable to say no. You then are told that although she still wanted to go dancing she was rejected because she was, "Twice the size of Marilyn Monroe." "Marilyn Monroe" is used for comparison a lot within this play perhaps because everyone knows what happened to "Marilyn Monroe" and it is implying what will happen in the end of the play. In a way the figure "Marilyn Monroe" is used as dramatic irony.

The songs usually either bring a dramatic technique in the story or it tells you what has happened. Usually either Mrs. Johnstone or the narrator tells you the past. The reason for this is because they are the two characters that know what happens in the play.

Humour plays a large part in Blood Brothers. It keeps the audience interested and balances out the sadness and tragedy in the play. Throughout the play we experience different types of humour such as the use puns. For example when Mickey and Eddie are discussing Sammy's head. Mickey tells Edward about Sammy having a metal plate put in his head when he had an accident. Edward says: "A side plate?" and Mickey replies: "No, its on top." This pun leads to misunderstanding due the boy's innocence, and the way they are unaware to the double meaning makes the conversation entertaining. We experience incongruity when Edward and Mrs. Lyons argue and Eddie says:" You're a fuckoff!" He has picked up this from his new friends and it sounds out of place with his upbringing and posh accent, which is what makes the audience laugh. There is an example visual humour when the children are playing with another group. They are impersonating various people and Sammy pretends to be a professor with a bomb. The bomb is really a condom full of water and it explodes over the children. This makes the audience laugh without actually hearing any words.

Jordan Clement G.C.S.E. Coursework 20/01/20021

Blood Brothers is not a straightforward comedy though. There are elements of sadness, happiness, tragedy and pain in the play. We experience tragedy, which balances the humour. There are examples of physical and verbal conflict throughout the play. The most obvious example of physical conflict is when Mickey shoots Eddie. The audience are reminded of the superstition that the brothers would die if they were to find out they were in fact twins. This builds dramatic tension and then this tension dies out after the climax of the shooting. The verbal conflict in the play takes place mainly between the female characters. An example of this is when Mrs. Lyons goes in to Mrs. Johnstone's house and they argue. The sentences are short, "Don't lie!" for example, in order to create a build up of tension. This tension is released when Mrs. Lyon's attempts to kill Mrs. Johnstone. Both these examples are also forms of obvious conflict because they are meant to be seen.

Within Blood Brothers there are three main themes that take place. These three main themes are: Superstition; Class; Friendship. The first theme, superstition, we are reminded of throughout the play. We are told of the superstitions in the songs of the narrator, Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Johnstone and the dialog of these characters. The main song used to create the tension of superstition is the "shoes upon the table," song which is song by the narrator. This song creates tension by reminding the audience and the characters that Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Johnstone have performed an unnatural deed. The second theme, class, separates the two boys (Edward and Mickey) no matter how close they appear to be.

Mrs. Johnstone gave Edward away partially because of class. Mrs. Lyons promises that if Mrs. Johnstone gave her a child he would have all the things he could ever want "a bike with both wheels on", and because Mr. Lyons has a respectable job which makes him a middle-class citizen he can afford it. So class in a way sets the ball rolling. The third theme is friendship. The main issue with this theme is that can it exist when a woman is involved. And the answer is no. The reason for the shooting scene at the end of the play is because Edward has an affair with Mickey's wife (Linda) and Mrs. Lyons tells Mickey of their affair. Although the brothers have stuck together through thick and thin the one thing that comes between them is a girl. Although it was impossible for them to stay friends when a women is involved that's not when the friendship begins to drift apart. The relationship starts to drift apart when Edward goes to university. Probably because Mickey starts to realise that him and Edward aren't so similar and Edward is going to be a respectable man with a respectable job where he is not.

I feel that Blood Brothers is a very tragic play although it does include many elements of humour. The play uses all stage props thoroughly and it uses lighting to create a very tense atmosphere. The actors in play are of high quality and played the parts splendidly. They made the fact that adult actors played children characters barely noticeable. This is probably due to the costumes that the actors wore. The actors that played the two boys I feel were especially good because not only did they have to look different ages throughout the play but they acted the ages as well. I feel this musical by Willy Russell was very good because of all the dramatic techniques and staging techniques that the Phoenix theatre uses, and without really thinking about it

Jordan Clement G.C.S.E. Coursework 20/01/20021

You don't realise what is causing you to feel these emotions for certain actors. I also think that having the stage on a slope causes an illusion of great distance. I also found the play that much better because the actors had a Liverpudleon accent, because I feel that if the play did not have a Liverpudleon dialect it would have not seemed proper. I enjoyed the musical very much and would recommend it to people of all ages it is a very entertaining play as it is both humorous and serious.