Blood Brothers, Review Of Play. A*

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Blood Brothers, the Society of West End Theatres has awarded a play written by Willy Russell and directed by Bob Thomson ‘The greatest musical of the decade.’After seeing Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre, I must agree that it is one of the most streamlined performances I have seen in the past. The play Blood Brothers is set in Liverpool, which interestingly was also the birthplace of the writer Willy Russell who was born just outside Liverpool. In this essay, I will be writing about the effect of and use of dramatic tension in the play. I will also be reviewing the plays general strengths and weaknesses. I will attempt to streamline the review with a degree of professionalism and fairness. The play written by Willy Russell is set In Liverpool and revolves around Eddie and Mickey (Johnston) as they become separated by the actions of Mrs Lyons who bribes the real mother Mrs Johnston to hand over one of her twins for money and for beneficial reasons, claiming that she cannot support all her many children on her current income. She also proposes that the child would have a better life with her and her husband. The reminder of the play Blood Brothers shows the differences in lifestyle the two boys live, almost like the difference of Black and White. As the play goes on this opposite relationship is changed and the similarities of the two are made clearer. Blood Brothers also attempt to show the large gap in society between the first class and the working class people, showing a great deal of status differences. We could see this by the language used by Mrs Lyons, the props used on stage and the characters appearance. This was especially noticeable between Eddie and Mickey. Other characters in the play include Mr Lyons and Linda who is a friend of the two brothers. Both these character take a supporting role. Linda, takes an increased role later in the play where she attracts the attention of both Mickey and Eddie, creating a complex idea of expressed love from Eddie and Mickey. She finally created the large conflict between the two Blood Brothers nearer the end of the play. One other mentionable character was the Narrator. The Narrator is a mystified character who’s purpose of narration is not entirely clear. Throughout Blood Brothers the narrator continually reminds Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnston that the arrangements will not work out. More precisely his words read, “There’s no use clutching at your rosary,The devil’s in the garden and he can seeDeep inside; he can touch your bonesNot he won’t, no he’s never going to let you alone.You can run you can hide but he’ll always find youWherever you are he’s just behind you.When he rings at the chimes then he knows you’re in.No you wont, no
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you’ll never get away from him,No you wont, no you’ll never get away from him.”An adaptation was made in this speech by the Phoenix theatre where the Narrator appends “The Devil’s got your number.” Into the speech, replacing ‘the chimes’. The idea of the narrator, I think is to give a continued sense of inevitability of the outcome of the play- that it can never end well as intended and that it is just a mater of time. This narration used, I thought was most effective. It added a great deal of eerie atmosphere to the play, which was needed ...

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