Blood brothers - Development phase.

BLOOD BROTHERS Development Phase In this workshop, we were aiming to develop our knowledge and understanding of the play Blood Brothers, and to build on our understanding of the play. To do this, we took part in a series of exercises across the day. We looked at the synopsis of the play in groups of 4 or 5. We created a practical comic strip/ play in less than a minute. The reason for this was to brief ourselves on the out line of the story. We used freeze-frame for the opening and ending lines, narrated action to explain to the audience what was going on in the scene, freeze-frame into action to mark the moment, and then we ran the scenes together. I played the narrator in this scene. I used the above techniques to try and raise the awareness of the story. I feel I was successful in my role as I briefed the audience on what was happening but also remained a focal point for the actors whilst they were becoming their characters. Throughout the play, class was a major issue. By looking at the photo of the two brothers we can see a huge difference in their costumes. Both brothers are wearing a school uniform, however, they are in a very different state. Mickey's is torn and tattered. He has holes in his jumper, baggy socks, and scuffed shoes. Eddie's is much smarter. All his clothes fit, and they are respectable. He shows no sign of dirt and his shoes are laced and shiny.

  • Word count: 1332
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Blood Brothers Evaluation

Blood Brothers Evaluation We went to see the play, 'Blood Brothers' on the 18th of November at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester Square. I expected the play to be very emotional and sad, from the reviews that my friends had given me. The plot of the story is that there are two twins and they are separated at birth. As the mother has 7 other children to look after and is the only person in the house who earns money, she cannot afford to keep them both. After much persuasion she gives one away to her employer, Mrs Lyons, a woman who is rich but unable to have any children of her own. The twin who is given away grows up in a middle class household and the other twin who is kept grows up in a working class household. They become best friends 'blood brothers' without knowing they are related and the play ends tragically with the death of both twins. The play clearly shows us the differences in their upbringing and status. The stage helps show the difference between their statuses because it separated into 2 halves. The side on the left (from the audience's left) is the poorer side, and the set shows walls with graffiti on and smaller houses. The right side has bigger houses with nicer gardens. The audience can tell that the Lyons are of higher status because the set shows their house on the right side of the stage, and usually the further right you are the higher your

  • Word count: 1220
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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blood brothers review

Costume The use of costumes in the play greatly emphasized the age difference between the scenes. In the first scene Linda is portrayed as young and so even though she acted like a boy the actress still dressed as a girl, in bright frocks. In this the director tries to show she does not really care what she looks like, this is taken further by the fact she has dirt marks on her face, in an effort to get accepted by the lads. In the second scene the actress is playing a teenager, she has become more aware of her body and tries to flaunt it. She wears a ridiculously small skirt in an attempt to catch Mickey's attention, who she is portrayed as lusting after. After this scene when Mickey and Linda are married she wears sensible plain clothes. She does not wear the bright colours she wore in her childhood or the cool colours of her teenage life. She wears dull colours; I feel the director does this to show that after marriage she has to put aside her dreams The contrast in clothing between Mickey and Edward is another way the difference in class is shown. Mickey as a child wears hand me downs from his older brothers whereas Edward dresses smartly, this carries on throughout the play. Edward is always shown dressed more smartly then Mickey. This emphasizes the class difference because it follows the stereotypical view that the rich are always dressed smartly and the poorer people

  • Word count: 750
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Define and discuss the traditional role of a narrator Within a Blood Brothers. Compare the role of the narrator in the Play Blood Brothers and consider how you Would present the narrator to an audience if you were the director.

Define and discuss the traditional role of a narrator Within a Blood Brothers. Compare the role of the narrator in the Play Blood Brothers and consider how you Would present the narrator to an audience if you were the director. The dictionary definition of narrate - VT (a story) to tell, relate; to give an account of; (film, TV) to provide a spoken commentary for narration n - narrator n... The tradition of narration came from the Greek chorus. Their were thirteen people in the chorus; all singing and dancing. The chorus which served as the narrator, asked probing questions, and also gave great advice to the heroes. If there was any violence it was merely narrated, and not presented for fear of offending the audience. The purpose of the narrator is to let the audience know what is going on. Narration is one of the most important components of a story. The characters, plot, setting, and theme are also significant; however the narrator sets the mood and also the pace of the story, as well as predicting what might happen when the narrator is omniscient. In Blood Brothers the narrator plays a variety of roles for example sometimes he is at a higher status than them and also is sometimes very negative. The original Greek narrator was in a chorus which consisted of thirteen people, in the play 'Blood Brothers' the narrator sang with the characters but he was much more

  • Word count: 1633
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Dear Diary.

Dear Diary Today was a busy day. I made a new friend. He lives down the road and he is called Michael Johnston, he says everyone calls him Mickey. He calls me Eddie. Surprisingly I found out that we were born on the same day. Mickey says some smashing things such as p***ed off and f**k off. I tried to look them up in the dictionary but I could not find them so they could be spelt wrong. I really wanted to know what they meant so I could tell Mickey because he did not know either. Mickey asked me to be his blood brother, he said that it would hurt, it most certainly did! He cut his hand with his penknife and then he cut mine in the same way, we clasped hands and said out loud, "I will always defend my brother." Later on I met his mother who told me to never go near his house again or the "bogey man" would get me. I looked up the word in the dictionary but couldn't find it; I asked my Mummy what it meant? She said it was supposed to be something bad but that there was no such thing anyway I still can't spell it. Later Mickey came to my house to see if I could go out and play, but my Mum said to Mickey that it was my bedtime - it was not! When Mickey had gone she asked me his name and where he lived, she told me never to talk to him again. I thought she was being really mean and I told her I hated her and that I liked Mickey better than her. - It's true Mickey is much nicer

  • Word count: 798
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare how Willy Russell portrays the two mothers in 'Blood Brothers'. Account for the different reactions the audience will have to the two women throughout the play.

Compare how Willy Russell portrays the two mothers in 'Blood Brothers'. Account for the different reactions the audience will have to the two women throughout the play. The play 'Blood Brothers' revolves, around the subject of 'separated twins'. Willy Russell, the playwright, set 'Blood Brothers' in post Second World War Liverpool in the 1950s, a time when the image of being Marilyn Monroe was every girl's dream. It was also a time when people were striving to make ends meet because unemployment was high after the war. The character of Mrs Johnston represented one such person, Willy Russell constructed her as a poor working class single mother, who through necessity, had to give one of her twin boys away to her more wealthy, childless employer, Mrs Lyons. It was from the initial giving away of the child that the plots are developed. Willy Russell created two very different mothers to explore the effects of nature and nurture, superstition, class, power and dreams. Throughout the play, Willy Russell explores situations that mirror issues and problems within modern society. The nature and nurture issue is explored as soon as Mrs Johnston was manipulated by her employer into giving away her twin baby boy. Mrs Lyons preys on her employee being poor and already having to provide for her seven children. As Mrs Johnston was pregnant again with a pair of twins, two new additions to

  • Word count: 3071
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What makes Blood Brothers an effective stage play?

What makes 'Blood Brothers' an effective stage play? In every effective play there are always specific features that the play writer uses to make his play successful such as the interesting characters, dramatic storylines and powerful endings. In this essay I will be focusing on the 'Blood Brothers' play to show the main aspects that make it standout to the audience in the theater. The story introduces us to the situation of twin boys separated at birth as they grow up in different controlled environments. They both live a different life and have the same tragic fate and die.One of the key elements which ensure that the audience has an enjoyable experience is the way Willy Russell contrast the two main characters. This will intrigue the audience as it has a huge impact and makes it interesting throughout the entire play; one example of this is on act 2 scene 2: [Offering the bag]...what? [shocked] This will suggest to the audience that the two boys are from completely different backgrounds. This is shown as Edward, who has a privileged lifestyle, offering Mickey some sweets. Mickey reaction is shock, who is from poverty, isn't used to kindness and his act of generosity due to his poor upbringing, as he's brought up in a large family and his not expected to be given anything. Edwards wants to impress Mickey so they can be friends as he has never has friends as a result of

  • Word count: 3612
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The 'Haunted' House

The 'Haunted' House It was the Christmas holidays and beady eyes phased with curiosity were glazing over us. I felt as though everyone was staring at us, and we were now the central attention of our new, humble town, Gravesend. As our entire luggage was being unloaded, I noticed that everyone was glaring at us as if we did not belong here. I felt uncomfortable and insecure. The neighbourhood itself appeared rather pleasant and, on the road, children were playing with each over and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. As my father opened the door to our new house I flew inside and ran up the stairs immediately to see what my bedroom was like. The walls were pale green and my curtains and carpet were of a similar, but darker colour. By the time everything had been unloaded from the removals lorry, my furniture was positioned well in my room. My family and I began to get settled in. Months passed and neighbours had come over to introduce themselves and offer their aid. These neighbours had gradually become good family friends and I had made a couple of friends myself. I met Ron through his and my parents, who started talking to each over ever since we moved in. Ron was my age, Asian and well-built. I then met Mickey through Ron, whom I did not know so well. I was fitting in with everyone else and my family and I were finally not getting the attention that we got when we

  • Word count: 1062
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Review of a live piece of theatre - Blood Brothers

GCSE Drama paper 1-unit 2 task 3 Review of a live piece of theatre Introduction: We went to see the "Blood Brothers" on the 23rd of May at the Phoenix Theatre. The plot of the story was that there were two twins separated at birth. One of the twins grows up in a middle class house hold. The other one in a working class house hold we see the different ways in which they grow up and the clothes that they wear are different. The play examines the issue of social in Britain. Structure: The plot was structured at the begging there was a death scene of the two twins the rest of the piece was a flash back the mother of the twins was on her own and she had seven children already and she had twins coming she didn't have enough money to feed the seven children and could not feed two more she worked with a rich woman who did not have any children the narrator was saying what was happening in each scene. Characters: Mickey was the twin in the working class he had bad clothes he had a green jumper which had holes and he put it over his knees his face was all dirty and you know from his body language that he was a little boy because he was jumping on the floor and he pretended that he had a horse his mum was telling him not to play up there. In his monologue his body language was that he was sitting on the floor and saying what he was not allowed to do but that he was almost eight

  • Word count: 1116
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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