In Act 1, Scene 2, we see that the mother is arguing with the milkman about money, the kids are complaining about not having money to buy food, and that they’re all hungry.
The audience see how the mothers contract to each other in Act 1, Scene 3. Mrs Lyons opens a parcel which contains a pair of new shoes, and places them on a table. Mrs Johnson goes mad and tells her to get them off the table. “On… on the table… take them off. Take them off!” This shows us that Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnson are contrasting each other, once is superstitious and the other is not. Also, The mother is amazed by the house that Mrs Lyons lives in, “Its such a lovely house! It’s a pleasure to clean it!” and Mrs Lyons responds by saying. “Yes, it’s a pretty house isn’t it? It’s a pity its so big. I’m finding it rather large at present.” Which tells us that Mrs Lyons is completely unfazed about the house, While Mrs Johnson is impressed by the size of the house.
The narrator is used as a dramatic device at the end of this scne, the narrator says a poem; “There’s shoes on the table, A joker in the pack, The salt was spilled and the mirrors cracked, There’s one lone magpie overhead, and I’m not superstitious the mother said. No I’m not superstitious the mother said.” This makes the audience feel anticipation almost like the women now have no control over later events.
Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnson are talking about the babies in Act 1, Scene 5. Mrs Johnson is expecting twins and she breaks the news to Mrs Lyons. Just after she breaks the news, There is a freeze frame, which makes the audience feel the tension and the audience have no idea whats going to happen next. The freeze frame is like the time when both the mothers are thinking about it, and suddenly they both get an idea, But its to Mrs Lyons advantage. It was Mrs Johnson’s idea to give one of the twins away, “Give one of them to you?” without Mrs Lyons bringing it up. Mrs Lyons says, “Yes. Yes!” The audience feel sympathy toward Mrs Johnson because when she says it, Mrs Lyons wont back down, and starts talking and getting herself worked up and excited. Mrs Johnson feels slightly bullied into giving one of her babies away.
Russell used the use of ellipsis in this scene to make the audience feel like Mrs Lyons is jumping in at every sentence, and not letting Mrs Johnson finish. Making us feel like she’s almost being pressured into giving away her own baby. The use of prop in this scene is used by Mrs Lyons giving Mrs Johnson money for her baby, and Mrs Johnson throwing it back at her, disgusted that Mrs Lyons is trying to buy her baby from her.
Mrs Lyons has offered Mrs Johnson a lot of money in Act 1, Scene 8. Mrs Lyons fires Mrs Johnson, leaving Mrs Johnson with no job, no money and unable to see her baby, Edward. When Mrs Johnson threatens to take Edward with her, Mrs Lyons says she can’t do anything about it because she sold her baby. Mrs Johnson can’t do anything about it because she doesn’t want to be caught by the police. The stagecraft used in this scene is the money, the money changes everything, as the arrangement is now illegal.
The use of ellipsis in this scene explains how frustrated and worried Mrs Johnson is about giving her baby away. It makes the audience feel tension. This is used as a dramatic device. “I didn’t.. You told me…” Mrs Johnson is almost stuttering and it creates a nervous atmosphere within the audience.
Towards the end of Act 1, Scene 8. Mrs Lyons plays on Mrs Johnson’s superstitious side, “they say… they say that if either twin learns…” Mrs Lyons knows Mrs Johnson is very superstitious as we saw earlier in the play when Mrs Lyons put shoes on the table. She uses this against her, almost blackmailing her into keeping quiet. The narrator has been coming into these scene with warnings of bad luck; the audience link this together and expect that later on in the play the twins might meet, and something big will happen.
In Act 2, Scene 1, Willy Russell has started the scene with a narrator; the narrator’s speech sets the atmosphere within the audience. The audience feel slightly jumpy during this speech, as the narrator gets louder and angrier. The narrator says, “he raps on the door…” and soon there is some one knocking on the door and the audience think for a moment that it could be the devil, but of course they know its not. The audience are on the edge of their seat as the play takes an unexpected turn. Dramatic actions and devices are used to make the audience feel uneasy or nervous which is that the speech does to the audience.
In act 2, Scene 3, Edwards asks his mother what the bogey man is, and she answers that its just a superstition. That its something a silly mother would tell her child… the irony in this scene is how its Mrs Johnson who told Eddie and is superstitious, and Mrs Lyons calling her stupid, although she doesn’t know. Later on in the scene, when Mrs Lyons finds out the boys have met she tells Eddie that they boys are not the same. The dramatic irony is that the boys are twins.
Act 2, Scene 7 is a key scene because this is when the policewoman talks to the two mothers. Because Mrs Lyons is better off, the policewoman talks to her with more respect. But Mrs Johnson is financially challenged, the policewoman talks to her with little respect.
Both families have decided to get away from each other, by moving away. Mrs Lyons moves away and when she is in her house, Edwards looks out of the house window and see’s a council estate. Little do they know, Mrs Johnson is moving in there too. Mrs Lyons is, again, unfazed by this new house. Yet, the mother is ecstatic.
In act 2, scene 11, the narrator is used to remind the audience that its only time before the truth comes out, this is used as a dramatic device. The narrator created tension “no, you wont, no you’ll never get away from him.” This creates tension within the audience and they get the feeling that whatever’s about to happen, is about to happen.
Act 5, Scene 1, Lynda takes the place of the narrator to pass the time and she’s telling the audience her feelings because she cant get back into the plot. We see a recurring theme of dancing throughout the play. It reminds the audience of the mother, and how the mother felt.
We see another recurring theme is act 5, scene 2. When Mrs Johnson tries to move, she talks to the movers, but struggles to move away. But now, Lynda moving. Eddie is now helping them move away. This is making the audience see Lynda to be turning into the mother more and more. This makes the audience realise that both the scenes are parallel, the current scene and the scene where the mother tries to move.
Later, the mother becomes the narrator, which proves even more that Lynda and the Mother are becoming alike. She describes to the audience how she felt and how she feels now. Her speech is moving and she feels trapped. This is how exactly now Lynda is feeling. This is done because the mother knows exactly how Lynda feels when she was in her position.
Act 5, Scene 5 is a key scene because this is where the two brothers die, and its ironic because Mrs Lyons wanted one of them so badly, she stooped so low as to take another woman’s baby, She killed her own son, Eddie, and thinking that it was Mickey’s fault, also kill’s him as well.
The narrator says “So did you ever hear the tale of the Johnston Twins, As like each other as two new pins, How one was kept, The other given away, and they were born and they died on the self same day.” This is like the poem that the narrator read at the start, marking the start of the play, and this poem is marking the end of the play.
My conclusion is that Willy Russell portrays the two mothers in blood brothers, He makes us feel sympathy for the Mother because she didn’t want to give her baby away, and Mrs Lyons forced her too, almost. Willy Russell uses dramatic devices through out the play, in the form of, for one example, the narrator. He uses the narrator to speak what the audience already have in their heads, and to create tension among the audience.
