Blood Brothers Evaluation. After we watched Blood Brothers, we acted out certain scenes from the script and attempted to use various techniques to portray the story in many different ways.

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GCSE Drama – 5DRO2 Unit 2

Documentary Response

By Luke Warner

Over the past term, me and my fellow classmates have studied the play ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell. The hit West-End show follows the story of two twins, separated at birth and brought up in two very different social backgrounds; one growing up in a rich family, while the other remains with his real mother in a poor family, living in the slums of Liverpool. The play explores many themes, ranging from the problems of society, to the possibility of superstition playing a massive part on life. After we watched ‘Blood Brothers’, we acted out certain scenes from the script and attempted to use various techniques to portray the story in many different ways.

‘Blood Brothers’ tells the tale of Mickey and Eddie, two twins separated at birth due to a number of reasons. The first act introduces the story, and examines the events leading up to the birth. It also witnesses their first meetings as children. This part of the play is very comedic, however the frequent use of the narrator (who plays a paramount role throughout the play) quickly shifts what appears to be a funny scene into a dark and eerie one. The second act sees the reunion of the brothers, now hit with puberty, and an increasing sense of competition. Although initially positive, the story takes a turn for the worse when Mickey is badly affected by the poor economy of the 80s, and turns to crime as a source of income. He is then arrested, and falls into a deep sense of depression, despite being recently married to his teenage love, Linda (whom Eddie also shares a love of). The play comes to a climactic ending, where both brothers are killed following Mickey’s mental breakdown. The play discusses (in a slightly left-wing fashion) the problems of a class system in society, and how this can tear families apart, and ruin lives. It also investigates whether superstition plays a role on life, with the narrator constantly supporting this idea. Mickey, is one of the brothers who still lives with his real mother, while Eddie grows up in a more upper-class background. The pair are very friendly to each other to start with, and their friendship grows, but then collapses towards the end. Mrs Johnstone is the real mother who was left by her husband a few years before. Mrs Lyons is the woman who Eddie is brought up to know as ‘Mother’, who like Mickey suffers a mental breakdown. These two, unlike their sons despise each other a little way into the plot.

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When we read the script, the very first scene we performed was opening of the play in Act One. This scene studies the events leading up to the birth of the twins, and how Mrs Johnstone could be convinced to give up one of her sons.  The main reason for her seemingly cruel decision was to still be able to look after her family financially. She claims that had she only one child, she could provide enough food for everyone, however with any more it was impossible. To make this scene interesting, we used a range of different techniques. ...

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