Mickey and Edward are quite entertaining characters, Willy Russell has used this to envelope it with the social class to portray it in an entertaining way. Characters like Mrs Lyons (who was higher-class) was spoken to more formally and politely by the policeman, whereas Mrs Johnstone (who was lower-class) was spoken to more informally and in an intimidating way. The policeman said to Mrs Lyons ‘Excuse me, as I say it was more of a prank really, Mrs Lyons.’ The policeman is more respectful when speaking to her, addressing her by her name. However when speaking to Mrs Johnstone he says, ‘And he was about to commit a serious crime love, a serious crime. Now do you understand that? You don’t want to end up in court again, do you? Eh?’ The policeman uses a lot of question marks and commas. The frequent questioning shows that the policeman is patronising; he feels he has to ask constant questions to ensure that Mrs Johnstone understands him. He also only uses basic words. This serious issue of class however was made entertaining because they lived so near to each other, so the natural surroundings weren’t different, it goes back to nature vs. nurture, and how you were brought up. But she has a tragic side to her as well, she says ‘I wish I was like Marilyn Monroe’, this shows us that she wants to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she was a tragic character herself, which was ironic. She was thinking only about the money and class, not about the stress and trouble that Marilyn Monroe got into. But as Mrs Johnstone regularly sang in the play it made those issues seem entertaining. But the main subliminal message that Willy Russell was trying to portray from the characters and their language was that if you’re brought up in a higher-class family you are treated better than a lower-class person – you are treated differently. When the twins meet, it is entertaining because of the irony of superstition, the language devices like similes and personification that is used also makes the serious issues seem entertaining, like ‘He could swear like a solider’ this meant that Mickey was always swearing which was humorous; it made it entertaining for the audience. Another quote, ‘I wish that I could be like Mickey, Kick a ball and climb a tree like Mickey, Run around with dirty knees like Mickey.’ This showed that Willy Russell thinks that higher-class people don’t swear, but it was made entertaining as Edward said he wanted to be like Mickey. I mean you couldn’t say that Mickey was a role model could you? This also shows the influence that a lower class like Mickey, had on a higher class like Edward.
The narrator plays and important part of the dramatic aspect of the play. He is not in the plot, but he enhances the play. He uses Standard English, but with a regional accent. So he fits into the social context of the play. His vocabulary is direct; this symbolises a direct message. His voice is also assertive but he doesn’t show any emotion, which shows he’s detached from what’s going on. He’s dramatically effective because he is entwined in speech and action. The speech sequences between Linda and Mickey are interrupted by the narrator, which shows a dramatic presence. He comes at unexpected and dramatic times, which is engaging for the audience. The director also says ‘shoes upon the table’ and ‘gypsies in the wood’ this symbolises a warning and verbally foreshadows the rest of the play. The issue of superstition is portrayed in an entertaining way because the narrator is saying in between speeches. He is slightly menacing; this creates shock to the audience, which engages them. You could say that the narrator is seen like the devil.
Comic devices are also used when there were adult’s dresses as children and they behave in an immature manner. The milkman being the gynaecologist also adds to the humour, from the quote ‘actually I’ve given up the milk round and gone into medicine. I’m your gynaecologist’. From this the audience would subconsciously see the issues in an entertaining way. The humorous language from quotes previously also build up the entertainment and adds to the comic devices – they go together well in tandem. Mickey and Linda growing up has a humorous side to it because they deal with small problems, which are humorous. Mickey says ‘I don’t wanna die’ and Linda says ‘But you have to Mickey. Everyone does. Like your twinny died.’ Mickey here is frightened that Sammy might kill him with a fake air pistol, but Linda calms Mickey down. But as they grow up we see a serious issue of it, like their baby, finances and trying to find a house. A lot of stress comes to Mickey and he says ‘Now give me the tablets… I need them, so I can be invisible’ from that we can see Mickey needs tablets because of the stress, but the last part makes it entertaining, it’s a sort of joke. There was also light romance between Mickey and Linda, she kept saying ‘I love you Mickey’, which was entertaining as Linda had said she loved him when they were children; the romance makes those serious issues between them seem entertaining.
The music devices that Willey Russell used also make it entertaining and helps bring the characters to life on stage, the serious issues such as single parents and social class suddenly become entertaining because of these melodies. Willy Russell used music devices effectively to end Act 1 on a positive note. A quote to show this was, ‘We’re getting’ out. We’re moving house, We’re going away. Getting’ out today. We’re moving’ movin’ movin’ house. The Johnstone had a lot of troubles up to that point, but they were finally moving to the countryside. The positive text and music contributes to the happy atmosphere, the chorus, ‘Oh bright new day, we’re moving away, we’re startin’ all over again. Oh, bright new day, we’re going away, Where nobody’s heard of our name’, emphasises the importance of it and shows her happiness. The melody is an upbeat tune, the lyrics say that ‘Oh bright new day’, the constant repetition again emphasises the fact that the atmosphere is happy, so the issue of poverty and single parents are subconsciously portrayed in an entertaining way because of the music, melodies and positive text. The happy atmosphere also subconsciously makes the audience generate their expectations, that the next acts would be happy. Different types of songs are used to represent different parts of the play; there were ballads, ‘Tell me it’s not true, say it’s just a story, something on the news, Tell me it’s not true, say it’s just a dream’, for sad parts and lively songs, (from the previous quotes) for light-hearted aspects. The engaging songs and lyrics add to the drama because it is constantly enveloping with serious issues, which is entertaining, hence engaging for the audience. The themes of dancing, like, ‘Oh we went dancing Edward, it was great’ and waltzing occurs throughout the play to go in tandem with the lively songs to add to the happy atmosphere – again to portray the serious issues in an entertaining way.
The end of the play deals with a lot of other serious issues in an entertaining approach. There is a lot of action and Mickey going crazy at the end, which is entertaining, this goes in tandem with the murders to portray it in an entertain way. The tension when Mickey was holding the gun also creates suspense for the audience and really engages them. The audience would subconsciously start the denotation to connotation process, as the gun connotes death and violence. Their expectations for the end of the play would be generated. The main issue of murder in the closing scene would be portrayed entertainingly because it was ironic that two twin brothers that were separated at birth eventually die on the same day. The author makes Mickey say ‘You! Why didn’t you give me away! I could have been…. I could have been him!’ This shows that Mickey knows he could have been better off if he was in the higher-class family. Subsequently it shows that the Willy Russell thinks that it is class that caused the murder. The author’s attitudes towards class are also revealed and justified in the narrator’s last speech. He trys to persuade the audience into thinking it was class because he stretches the last sentence ‘Or could it be what we, the English come to know it as class? ’. He ends with a strong rhetorical question talking about class. This rhetorical question is cleverly used because it subconsciously makes us linger on the topic of class, and even be persuaded to think it was class that caused the murders. This reflects the attitudes of the author; he thinks that it was the different social classes mixing that caused the murders. His attitudes to social classes were high. He was concerned, that if people with a different social classes mix then it would spell trouble.
In the play of Blood Brothers Willy Russell deals with a lot of serious issues in an entertaining way, this really engages the audience. He virtually engulfs all the serious issues with the entertainment and happy atmosphere, to portray them as entertaining. Our minds subconsciously think about the entertaining side of the issue rather than the serious side.
The issues also add to the development of the play, poverty led to social class which eventually led to murder. However he try’s to portray the issues in an entertaining way to engage the audience; it makes us feel and think about different aspects of the issues. Take social class for example, Mickey was brought up in a lower class family but probably had more enjoyment in his childhood than Edward. But Edward was not allowed much because of his parents. However when Mickey grew up he didn’t have a good education and wasn’t taught properly by his mother what was to do and not to do in life. These are different aspects of that issue, which were cleverly shown in an entertaining way by Willy Russell.
