At the start of the play, the narrator asks the audience to Judge Mrs Johnston's crime for themselves. By the end of the play, does the audience believe that Mrs Johnston has a stone in place of a heart or has Willy Russell persuaded us otherwise?

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At the start of the play, the narrator asks the audience to Judge Mrs Johnston’s crime for themselves. By the end of the play, does the audience believe that Mrs Johnston has a stone in place of a heart or has Willy Russell persuaded us otherwise?

The play ‘Blood Brothers’ is set in Liverpool during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s period. Willy Russell, the author, was born on the outskirts of Liverpool in 1947. At the age of five, he moved o a place called Knowsley. His father owned a chip shop and his mother worked in a warehouse. Russell was a failure at school but it was during English silent reading lessons he realised that he wanted to be a writer. He left school with an English language O level as his only qualification to work as a hairdresser for six years. Russell then took English evening classes and when he passed that decided to go to college for a year.

   Among his other plays Russell has wrote ‘John Paul, George and Bert, Our Day Out’ and ‘Educating Rita’.

   Russell tends to write plays based on real life situations around the Liverpool area. The plays often deal with the issues of choice and escape, for example in ‘Blood Brothers’ it’s mainly based on the choice issue where Mrs Johnston is stopped from having her choice of keeping the baby or getting ride of it, Mrs Lyons makes the decisions for her in a very forceful manor. Russell uses his humour to make serious points sound more interesting. Also, he tends to compare people from contrasting backgrounds to get different views on a situation. This is shown when Mrs Johnston moves out to the country, she thinks that her new house is perfect whereas Mrs Lyons, who lives in a big house over looking the council estate, thinks that the council homes are unpleasant and cheap. This shows that people from different backgrounds have very different views on life at this period. The rich have to be perfect in everyway and money is their life whereas the poor are happy with nothing as long as they have love.

   Russell seems to be interested in characters from the working class, such as bored housewives, working class families and the typical Liverpudlion people. The reason he concentrates on characters like this is because he was once in their shoes. Russell has experienced all of the problems that these people have to face so he knows exactly how to tell their story.  

   The play ‘Blood Brothers’ tells the story of twin brothers who are separated at birth because of an obsessed women who desperately wants children but can’t have her own. She blackmails the mother of the twins into giving her one or else she will get the social services on her case, if this happened the twins would be taken away from her. As the twins grow up, they become good fiends. When they reach adulthood, they go in separate directions, one to be clever, a successful businessperson and rich. The other to be poor, scruffy and have very little education. One day they meet up for the last time because when they are told that they are brothers Mrs Lyons tries to shoot the poor twin but Eddie, the rich twin, jumps in the way to save his brother. This was very unfortunate for him because when he dropped dead on the floor his brother Mickey was shot as well.

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Guy Sweetman

At the start of the play, the narrator asks the audience to Judge Mrs Johnston’s crime for themselves. By the end of the play, does the audience believe that Mrs Johnston has a stone in place of a heart or has Willy Russell persuaded us otherwise?

The play write make us feel sympathetic towards Mrs Johnston from the very beginning. The first time we see her in the play she is singing a song of her life story. She makes her life sound sad and makes out that she ...

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