A review of the production of Blood Brothers
A review of the production of Blood Brothers In year 10 we went to see the musical Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. We saw the play at the New Wimbledon Theatre on the 2nd of November 2006. It is a story about two twin brothers who are separated at birth but find each other again at aged 7. It shows the standard of living between the upper and working class of Liverpool in the 1960s onwards. The many characters in the play are: Mrs Johnstone (the working class mum), Mickey (working class twin), Sammy (brother of Mickey), Mr and Mrs Lyons (upper class parents) Eddie (upper class twin), Linda (friend of both twins) and the Narrator who helps tell the story throughout the play. It has many unexpected surprises along the way to keep in you interested. In the play the playwrite Willy Russell explored many themes and issues: class and expectations, unemployment and crime, superstition, loyalty and trust. The twins were altered by their different upbringings. Both went to separate schools, Eddie to a boarding school and Mickey to a state school. Eddies attire at school was a very strict uniform, tie up to the top button, socks to his knees, shoes polished and overall looking very smart. Mickey's uniform was scruffy and dirty the total opposite of Eddies. They were treated differently by society by a policeman. Both of the brothers were throwing stones when a policeman caught them
Identify the themes in the play
'Blood Brothers' By Willy Russell Portfolio Paper 1 Unit 2 By Rebecca Earley 0E Identify the themes in the play In this essay I am going to identify key themes. I have chosen five key themes in Blood Brothers. They are unemployment, friendships, bullying, superstition and class. When Eddie and Mickey first meet (pages 17-20) they show obvious difference in class. Mickey is scruffy and is playing around in the dirt. Eddie is posh, neat and well spoken, and is well dressed. Also there is another way of identifying and separating their class and that is by how they talk. For example: Mickey: " 'cos if our Sammy gives y' a sweet he's usually weed on it" Eddie: "Oh that sounds like super fun" page 17 Mrs Lyons uses superstition (pages13-14) as a way of stopping Mrs Johnstone from taking Eddie back. For example "That if either twin learns that he was one of a pair they shall both immediately die" Mrs Lyons, page 13. This is of course just another way of bullying Mrs Johnston into giving one of her twins away. This leads up to the key theme bullying. Again Mrs Lyons bullies Mrs Johnstone into giving her a twin. When Mrs Lyons decides that she wants Eddie back Mrs Lyons uses a different tactic of bulling her. Pages 13-14. "Your already being threaten by the welfare people" Mrs Lyons to Mrs Johnstone page 13. This shows that not only is Mrs Johnstone being bullied my
Blood Brothers- With reference to the way Russell presents Mickey- Show how far you agree that Mickey is responsible for the things that go wrong in his life.
Blood Brothers With reference to the way Russell presents Mickey- Show how far you agree that Mickey is responsible for the things that go wrong in his life. Russell reveals much about the characters in the play through use of dramatic methods. Russell does this by using Music and Song, movement, staging and language. These methods come together to show us a complete picture of Mickey's life. Russell shows Mickey as a jealous and envious person. This is evident when Mickey confronts Edward towards the end of the play. "Does my child ... as well as everythin' else?" Mickey is jealous of Edwards's life. Edward has everything and Mickey is left with nothing. This is particularly shown during the finale of the play when Mickey, who is fed up with having nothing and depending on other people, confronts Edward. Mickey's language and movement show his anger and frustration. Mickey uses foul language and his body language e.g. Pushing/Shoving shows anger. Mickey's life goes wrong at this point and it is totally his fault. His resentment and rage against Edward makes him go to the extreme and kill Edward. Mickey is very naive and because of this many things go wrong in his life. He is easily persuaded by Sammy to be a watch out. This is possibly because he is at the end of his tether and feels that there is no other way out of his present situation of misery. Mickey should have
Blood Brothers is set in the inner city of Liverpool.
Blood Brothers Coursework Part One Blood Brothers is set in the inner city of Liverpool. Liverpool at this particular time would have been quite a ruff, and where many single mothers and poor families lived. The docks were getting rundown and as a result there was less employment as jobs were not as plentiful as they had once been, and with growing unemployment there came other social problems. The play Blood Brothers is about two twin brothers separated at birth. There are five main characters in this play; Eddie and Mickey (the two twins) Mrs Johnstone (the birth mother) Mrs Lyons, and Linda. One of the twins (Eddie) is given away at birth to Mrs Lyons a rich lady whom Mrs Johnstone works for. Mrs Lyons is unable to bear a child and so is given one of the boys (Eddie). Mrs Johnstone gives her the child as she cannot afford to keep another child in her household. Throughout the play we see each of boys growing up and becoming very close friends. We see them both go through the hardships in life (mostly Mickey). In the end of the play we see both of the twins suffer and die, in what is an extremely powerful ending. Russell uses this plot to show us/the audience how hard and unfair life can be. He does this by contrasting the differences between the two families. One of the obvious factors that he points out to us is money. Mickey lives in an extremely diminutive
Mickey Johnston Timeline - Blood Brothers by Willy Russell
Timeline of Mickey Johnstone Age: 0 He is born to Mrs. Johnstone, a woman from Liverpool. He has many brothers and sisters and he also has a twin, later named Edward. Age: 2 days He is separated from his brother. His twin goes to live with a wealthy family called the Lyons. Age: 7 years At the age of seven, Mickey is an average 7 year old. Yearning to be older, very excitable and he has a lot of friends around his age. He is bullied by his older brother Sammy and Like many kids in 60's Liverpool, doesn't have many toys. One day, after being told of for playing up near the park, where he's forbidden to go, he meets Eddie, a boy his exact age. They become blood brothers but Mrs. Johnstone tells Eddie to stay away from Eddie. Eddie moves away, and Mickey also moves, to somewhere in the countryside. Mickey is still interested in sweets at this age. Age: 14 years At the age of 14, Mickey is a little shy, nervous around girls and just likes to mess around. While playing around in class he gets suspended, and so does Linda. While outside thinking, he meets Edward again. They soon become close again and along with Linda start to enjoy there lives. By now Mickey has moved on from sweets to smoking. Age:15-17 Between the ages of 15 and 17, Mickey, along with Edward and Linda, starts to enjoy life. They go to the beach, the chip shop and just enjoy themselves. But when
neither mother is without guilt
Blood Brothers by Willy Russell "Neither mother is without guilt" By Roshni Vora Blood Brothers is all about twin brothers that were separated at birth, one is given away to the wealthy upper class lady, Mrs Lyons, while the other is kept by the working class lady, Mrs Johnstone. In this essay we are going to discuss this statement whether "Neither mother is without guilt" and how far we would agree with this statement. Also we aim to consider all the dramatic irony techniques of the play and how Willy Russell uses them to help the dramatic effectiveness of the play. In this play the characters act in two stereotypical groups, the working class lady Mrs Johnstones and their family, and the middle class lady Mrs Lyons. It seems ironic that although the Mrs Johnstone family live on the small income that comes in the house they start off cheerful, compared to Mrs Lyons who never seems to be satisfied. This makes the audience see what is wrong in the lives of both families and all the created dramatic tension. In the next few paragraphs we will consider whether Mrs Johnstone is guilty or not guilty of the death of the brothers and similarly if Mrs Lyons is guilty or not guilty. First of all we shall consider the case against Mrs Johnstone. What evidence is there to suggest that she is guilty? We think Mrs Johnstone is guilty because she swore on the bible that she would give
Blood Brothers Development.
Blood Brothers Development Section 2 Meaning We chose to work on the scene when the two twins confront their particular teachers, which is a highpoint of humour in Blood Brothers. The scene informs us three elements. Firstly we see the completely different quality of education the twins are exposed to and secondly how similar the twins are despite this different learning environment. Thirdly the audience can see that both brothers are suspended, under similar circumstances, for insubordination. This scene conveys four of the main themes of Blood Brothers. The theme of twins is probably the most obvious thread in the play. The twins start out with identical opportunities but after separation they are forced into two different classes with disastrous results. In this scene we are forced to consider the effect of class upon life's outcomes. Rehearsing We worked as a team of four people. There was no difficulty in casting as we all had fairly firm ideas about which part we would like to play and nobody had any disagreements. There was 1.5 hours allocated for rehearsal. We elected that we would not have a director but that we would monitor our own performances. We also agreed to encourage each other and provide opinion if necessary. As rehearsal progressed we began to apply little extra pieces of self-direction. As an example, when Mickey and Linda are dismissed from the
What techniques and devices does Willy Russell use in 'Blood Brothers'? How effective are they in communicating the message of the play?
What techniques and devices does Willy Russell use in 'Blood Brothers'? How effective are they in communicating the message of the play? 'Blood Brothers' is an experiment. Willy Russell poses the question of 'What would happen if two brothers born on the same day, raised by two different families, on either side of the class boundaries. One family was on the middle class side, and the other was on the working class side. Willy Russell wants to know whether it would affect their lives. He wanted to show the impact of class boundaries on people's lives. One of Willy Russell's main objectives was to pack 35 years into a play. Before him, Aristotle - 'The Master of Greek Drama' practicaly wrote the rules of Greek Drama. He believed that all plays should follow 3 unities: . Time 2. Place 3. Action Aristotle thought that all plays should take as long to perform as it does in real life. Obviously (for time reasons) 'Blood Brothers' is not 35 years long. Aristotle thought that all plays should take place in the same location. Again Willy Russell does not keep 'Blood Brothers' inside that rule. Willy Russell, though, does make 'Blood Brothers' stick to the action rule. The play is linked to 1 main storyline. 'Blood Brothers' is about 2 twins who are seperated at birth and die on the same day. Willy Russell only followed 1 out of 3 unities from Aristotle's rules.
In Blood Brothers what techniques does Willy Russell use to attract and maintain audience interest?
In Blood Brothers what techniques does Willy Russell use to attract and maintain audience interest? The play dates back to the early 1980's where the original production by Willy Russell was written as a school play and presented in 1981. The play is not a musical as some may think yet in Russell's own words, 'a play with music.' The play is set up differently compared to many 'normal' plays as it is divided into just two acts and the play starts with the ending at the beginning giving it an unusual and uncanny feel. The play involves two women, one who has many children, Mrs Johnson and the other who is struggling to even get pregnant, Mrs Lyons. When Mrs Johnson takes up a cleaning job for Mrs Lyons, Mrs Johnson finds out she is pregnant and Mrs Lyons insists that she is to sell one of the twins to her - and no one would ever know; unbeknown to them everything would go wrong. When it comes to think about how Russell maintains audience interest the first major and somewhat bewildering part of the play is the songs as they show a lot of emotion and the repetition of the narrator always being around uses imagery to show that there is always something on the two women's conscience. However, Mrs Johnson is to some extent obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and she is mentioned many times in the play - mainly by Mrs Johnson in the songs she sings. "He told me I was sexier than
Willy Russell writes entertaining drama about believable characters and champions the cause of the socially disadvantaged. With reference to the historical and social context of Blood Brothers, analyse the accuracy of this statement.
"Willy Russell writes entertaining drama about believable characters and champions the cause of the socially disadvantaged." With reference to the historical and social context of Blood Brothers, analyse the accuracy of this statement." Blood Brothers is a musical play written in the 1980s during a recession in a United Kingdom. Written by Willy Russell, the play revolves around the subject of social class, which is definitely a constant theme throughout the play. Set in Liverpool, the story centres on a set of twins that are separated at birth with both mothers desperately trying to keep them apart in vain. In this essay I will analyse the accuracy of the statement above and relate to it throughout this essay. Russell uses a variety of techniques to make Blood Brothers an entertaining piece of drama. One way he portrays the story in an effective way to engage the audience, is by using dramatic tension. Dramatic tension is used when Mrs Lyons blackmails Mrs Johnstone to not tell anyone that the two boys are brothers, by using her fear of superstition. "They say...they say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, they shall both immediately die. You won't tell anyone about this Mrs Johnstone; because of you do you will kill them." This section of the play is an excellent example of dramatic tension as it creates suspense and makes the audience sympathise with Mrs