Last Updated on 20 November 2024 by Colette
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My first memory of Blood Brothers is reading it in English at school – I can’t remember what year I was in (maybe Year 8 or 9?). I can’t remember if we read the whole play or just extracts. I just remember it was a story that stayed with me. The first time I saw Blood Brothers at the theatre was when I lived in Leeds so that must have been about twenty years ago and then, more recently Dave booked me tickets as a surprise to watch it last time it was in Manchester. There are not many things I can be bothered to watch more than once but Blood Brothers is my absolute favourite and I could not have been more excited to see it return to the Palace Theatre this month.
Both Ben and Chloe have studied Blood Brothers at school – though only in part (they do it in drama in Year 8 I think) so I took Ben along with me to watch this time. Ben is always telling me he doesn’t really like musicals but I think he means the more brightly coloured, fluffy musicals like Hairspray or Joseph – Blood Brothers is gritty and thought provoking so I had high hopes that he’d be able to gloss over the fact Blood Brothers is a musical and just really immerse himself in the storytelling.
If you are unfamiliar with the story of Blood Brothers, it is set in 1950s to 1980s Liverpool and tells the sorry tale of fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth when their mother reluctantly gives one of the boys to her wealthy but childless employer in the hope that she can give him a better life.
Mrs Johnstone already has a house full when she finds out she’s expecting twins – her husband has left her, she’s only just scraping by and “the welfare” are threatening to take her kids away so when Mrs Lyons offers to take one of the boys and raise him as her own, it seems like the only solution. From the moment Mrs Johnstone swears on the bible that she will give Mrs Lyons one of the twins, we can see that she regrets her decision but she’s a woman of her word and she hands over her baby, telling her other children that the twin has gone to heaven where he’ll have a big garden and his very own bike – with two wheels!
For a short time Mrs Johnstone continues to work for Mrs Lyons, seeing her relinquished baby each day as she cleans the house however Mrs Lyons soon becomes uncomfortable with this situation, worrying that whilst Mrs Johnstone is there, baby Edward will never truly be hers and she convinces Mr Lyons that they should sack their housekeeper.
Although the twins are raised separately, living very different lives, their paths cross and they immediately become friends – both envious of the other and their lives. Edwards thinks Mickey is really cool with his naughty words and dirty knees whereas Mickey looks up to Edward with his tidy clothes and sweets to be freely shared.
Of course when their mothers realise they have become friends, they are keen to keep them separate – insisting that they mustn’t play with each other any more and the Lyons family eventually move to the countryside however the boys are drawn to each other with their paths crossing again in their teens and their friendship being rekindled.
We see how the impact of their different environments and upbringings leads them to opposite ends of the social spectrum, with privately educated Eddie going off to university and becoming a councillor, whilst Mickey ends up working in the local factory, getting his childhood sweetheart pregnant and, keen to do right by her, they are married at 18. Unfortunately for Mickey, he is made redundant and after a long spell of unemployment we see him act out of desperation and end up in prison where his mental health deteriorates.
Mickey’s poor mental health ultimately pushes his wife Linda to seek comfort in Eddie. When Mickey finds out he confronts his best friend with a gun and the play ends where it began, with the brothers, dead on the floor.
This is third (or possibly fourth) time I’ve watched Blood Brothers now and I still jumped out of my skin and burst into tears at the end – I think Ben jumped more because I’d grabbed him!
Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers (which was first written as a school play!) first debuted in the West End in 1983, over 40 years ago and yet, as a lady sat next to me last night said, many of the issues addressed in the play are still as relevant today – the impact of poverty and unemployment, of recession and struggle, and of inequality – the song “Take a Letter Miss Jones” felt especially poignant.
What a privilege to be able to share one of my favourite musicals with my boy and to have such intelligent reasoned discussions with him on the drive home – we talked about the reoccurring motifs of guns, superstition and Marylin Monroe (he definitely had his GCSE English Lit head on at this point!). We discussed the impact of guilt and how it can eat away at you, destroying your mental health – for Mrs Lyons especially, the fear that her boy would be taken away from her slowly tore her apart and in the end pushed her son away.
We discussed the “nature vs nurture” theme – how twin boys could be set on such different paths just by virtue of their lifestyle and opportunities. We wondered what would Edward have been like if he’d been the one to stay with his mum and how might Mickey’s personality have developed differently if he’d been the one chosen by Mrs Lyons and lived a life of wealth and privilege.
Ben really liked the way the story is told with the help of a Narrator – we talked about how he looms in the background bringing a sense of foreboding to scenes or sometimes is stood right behind characters almost as though he were their subconscious or a heavy cloak of guilt. His delivery of the opening lines of the play gave me goosebumps.
Although the play is dark and gritty, there’s plenty of humour too with lots of spitting, swearing and cheekiness to lift the mood. Ben would still tell you he doesn’t like musicals but because there is plenty of talking in Blood Brothers, the singing doesn’t feel so intense, more just away to move the story along.
Blood Brothers has been and continues to be my favourite musical and I urge you to go watch it if you get chance. Blood Brothers runs at the Palace Theatre until 30th November 2024.
If you’re looking for parking near the Palace Theatre, you’ll find that here and this list of places to eat near the Palace Theatre might be useful too.
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