Throughout the play there is a lot of comedy. These comical moments helps to keep the readers interest. Liverpudlians have always had a reputation for their humor. Even when they are swearing it does not seem offensive. Examples of comedy in the play are in act 2 scene 1 when Mrs Johnston refuses to open the door to Mickey because she thinks he is the rent man. More evidence of comdey is when the Milkman turns into a Doctor. Later in this act Eddie is taught to swear by Mickey but uses the swearwords incorrectly when he gets angry and calls his mother a “fuck off .” Also when the Johnston family move away to the country and they are not used to the country life. Mrs Johnston says “whats our Donna Mary put her sodding foot in now ... Sammy get off that cow”. When Mickey is suspicious of Eddie giving him sweets. When the Police Woman is talking to Mickey and Eddie gets all the clever replies wrong.
The play is also a musical A example of this is in the opening scene when Mrs Johnston is telling us about her life so far. Theres a backing group who sing tunes from the 60's. It makes the opening scene funny, interesting and sad at the same time. The idea of going dancing runs throughout the play, it reminds the reader that the character of Mrs Johnston used to be a happy person who enjoyed her life. Another way Willy Russell keeps the audience entertained is by using a narrator who speaks in a ballad form eg. “did you ever hear the tale....one given away.”
This play also contains a lot of drama, melodrama and tragedy. From the beginning Mrs Johnston is a working class mother who has been forced to give up one of the twins by Mrs Lyons for illegal adoption. The twins meet up regularly without knowing that they are related. This is ironic because the audience knows that they are twins. The drama increases as the boys grow up in two different classes. Eddie has everything (education, job, money and house) while Mickey has very little. This slowly drives their friendship apart until Mickey tries to end it by threatening Eddie with a gun. When the twins are young the two mothers keep on trying to break up their friendship because Mrs Johnston is superstitious and believes if they find out if they are brothers they will both die. This is what slowly drives Mrs lyons insane she gets more and more paranoid through the story because she does not want Eddie to die. Mrs lyons tries to end their relationship by moving to the country, but Mrs Johnston and family without realising they move to the same place.
The play is a social commentary because Willy Russel juxtaposes the working class with the middle class. He shows how money, influence and position can have an advantage in life - good education; influential job; ability to help others in life eg. Eddie helping Mickey get a house and job; having a comfortable lifestyle. He also shows this can be abused for example: illegal adoption – Mrs Lyons can intimidate Mrs Johnston but also persuade her that she can give the child a better lifestyle. More evidence of this is when the twins are caught by a Police Woman. The Police Woman says to Mrs Johnston that if one of the children misbehave she could be sent to court and then says to Mrs Lyons that it was more of a prank really and to dock his pocket money.
Blood brothers is a ballad, evidence of this is shown through the play when the narrator tells a story in rhyme usually at the beginning of the scene eg.
“So did you ever hear the tale of the Johnston twins,
as like each other as two new pins”
It is also a documentary, Willy Russel tells the life stories of the twins Eddie Lyons and Mickey Johnston from when they are born to the moment of their deaths. He tells the reason for their separation at birth, how and when they meet up during the courses of their lives, how ther lives take different paths and how they are eventually both murdered by a mentally ill woman. Therefore the twins lives are well documented.
