At the Johnstone’s house the lighting is always dim, not well lit, to show the gloominess and poverty in their lives. However the lighting in the Lyon’s house is always very bright. This is to show to the audience that the life of the Lyons is brighter than the Johnstones. In parts of the play (especially I found when the narrator was speaking) the lighting was red and black I think Willy Russell’s intention here is to show that there is death in the play and symbolises the bloodshed. Sometimes one person would have the spotlight on just them so the background is black. This picks out this one person so all our attention is focused on this person and the darkness in the background is very gloomy like a dark hole to symbolise the emptiness that will be in some of their lives because of the deaths at the end.
There is a musical theme to suggest the same idea or place theme. Like the music that is played at the Johnstones house. When this song comes on it is to show the poverty of the Johnstons. The song that I remember the most is the game when Mickey, Sammy and their friends are all children and they are shooting each other. The words of the song are very childish and it’s just a game. However when they become older this game becomes reality and a lot more serious and it’s not so simple as to ‘just cross your fingers and count from one to ten to get off the ground again’. The songs that Mrs. Johnstone sing create sympathy and unity from and with the audience because singing about her poverty and her sons dying. Through the songs, Willy Russell firmly establishes the poor social background.
Sean Jones plays Mickey’s character. I think Sean Jones was chosen well for Mickey’s part because he looks scruffy, scrawny and wiry. He looks undernourished. He played his part well as acting as a child, he put a lot of enthusiasm into it which made it a lot more believable and amusing. Towards the end of the play Sean Jones was walking slower, shuffling. His speech was slow to show age. Mickey’s part was played very well by Sean Jones. However I do not think Edwards’s actor was picked very well. John Cusworth acted Edward. There was not enough contrast between the two characters in their looks and build. I think that it would be better if someone who was more physically well built played Edward. I also found that John Cusworth did not refine his speech enough. Where he could of been very refined he was not, like in the sentence:
“Well, my mummy doesn’t allow me to play down here actually”
Mrs. Johnstones actress was acted well by Linda Nolan. You could hear Linda Nolan’s Irish accent coming through here liverpudlian but this did not really matter because lots of Irish people moved to Liverpool at this time. I feel that Nikki Davis-Jones played Linda particularly well. she put across to the audience all the time the age of Linda very well in the way she looked, spoke and moved.
The costumes emphasised the social contrasts well between Mickey and Edward. At the beginning of the play Mickey is wearing a jumper too big for him with holes in it that is probably a hand me down. He is also wearing baggy long shorts that have a hole at the crotch. Willy Russell’s intentions are to show the audience that Mickey is from a poorer class who cannot afford to have nice new clothes like Edward who is from the richer middle class. At the beginning Edward is wearing clean shoes, long socks pulled up to his knee. His jumper is well fitted and neat. When they get older Edward wears a university fashion scarf to show that he has had a high education. However Mickey wears a parker jacket that looks thin which shows that he needs warmth.
I think that Willy Russell’s intention by the end of the play was to show the difference in social class. That no matter how similar you are, if you are brought up in separate classes you can be worlds apart. I also think that Willy Russell is trying to get a moral across that brothers and family are always meant to be together. That if they are separated they will always find each other because how close they are in blood relation and that they are never meant to be separated.
