I am now going to contrast and compare Blood Brothers with Blue Remembered Hills; our piece was set in the 1950’s. However, the other play was set in 1943 during the Second World War. The plays were similar because they both started off with people very happy, playing and enjoying themselves. However as they continued both plays became more serious and in the end at least one person was killed in both. There also some differences. To begin with Blood Brothers is a cyclical play. This means it starts at the end, then goes to beginning then the end again. Blood Brothers also skipped large time gaps. The play showed scenes with the same characters as children teenagers and adults in the 1850’s 60;s 70’s and 80’s. However Blue Remembered Hills is a linear play. It runs from begging to end and the time is real. The characters stayed as children all the way through.
The people who appear in our production were Mickey, Edward, Linda, Sammy, Mrs Johnstone, Mrs Lyons, and Mr Lyons. Sammy was the character with the highest status he was a bully and bullied everyone else into liking him. This was clearly obvious by the way Mickey and his friends cowered when Sammy was around and did everything he told them. Mickey had the next highest status he was still a bully but not as high status as Sammy. When Sammy was not around, Mickey was in charge, but when Sammy was around Mickey stayed quiet. Edward was not a bully at all, he was well spoken and polite, he got along well with Mickey. He was good friends with Mickey and shared his sweets with him; He would do what Mickey wanted without arguing. However as they grew up this status began to change and Edward had the highest status as he was now Councillor Eddie Lyons, and Mickey and Sammy had a Lower status as they committed crimes such as robbery. At the beginning of Blood Brothers the girls were seen to have a lower status than the boys, they did what they were told. However as they grew up Linda had a higher status and was respected by all the boys. The adults were seen separately and to begin with Mr and Mrs Lyons had a higher status, as they were well spoken and posh. However, again, as the play progressed Mrs Johnstone had a higher status as Mrs Lyons developed mental problems and Mrs Johnstone sorted herself out and paid her debts.
In contrast in the other play there was, Peter, Donald Duck, Willie, Raymond, John, Audrey and Angela. With the boys Peter and John had the highest statuses. They called themselves numbers one and two. Peter was number one and John as number two Donald was bullied and had problems; he was an outcast from the others’ circle of friends and played by himself. The girls were again seen as a lower status than the boys. They did what the boys told them and saw it as the boys job to protect them. Angela was the girl with the highest status she was pretty and popular. Audrey was jealous of Angela. In Blue Remembered hills these status’ stayed the same all the way through.
In Blood Brothers the majority of the children had no manners, they misbehaved, swore and fought. However Edward was not, he was polite and behaved, unless he was lead by Mickey and Linda. Mrs Johnstone was again not well mannered and had many debts, however Mrs Lyons was well spoken and posh. No one seemed to have and religious beliefs. The only sign of this was when Mickey swore and the children chanted, “You’ll go to hell and there you’ll die” In Blue remembered hills the children again had no manners, were rude and selfish. They even managed to kill someone. The boys were scheming; they killed innocent animals and fought. They also spoke in a racist way using terms such as, “Ities” “Japs” They could act in this way due to the war. They are lower class, their dialect is colloquial and they use slang, “Yunt”, “Shut thee chops”.
We choose to perform in a very exaggerated way as the children in Blood Brothers. All facial expressions and dialect should be exaggerated. This helped the audience see the actors as children. As teenagers the role should again be played in a slightly exaggerated way, but this time exaggerating the body language and slurred slower paced speech. This again gave helped the audience realise they were now watching teenagers. Finally as adults the role should be played more seriously. This part of the play is serious and if played well very emotional. People are killed in the final scene and the acting needs to be serious and not exaggerated at all. When Mickey and Edward are killed it is very emotional, good acting can bring the audience to tears.
I conclusion, I would like to say that I have learnt that Blood Brothers and Blue Remembered hills have many things in common and many things that are different. When studying Blood Brothers I learnt how to play an exaggerated role of a young excited child. I also learnt to play a serious emotional ending. After watching Blood Brothers performed by professionals and studying the way they act carefully I believe I can now portray a seven-year-old character that comes from a wealthy background.