Blood Brothers, the Society of West End Theatres has awarded a play written by Willy Russell and directed by Bob Thomson ‘The greatest musical of the decade.’ After seeing Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre, I must agree that it is one of the most streamlined performances I have seen in the past. The play Blood Brothers is set in Liverpool, which interestingly was also the birthplace of the writer Willy Russell who was born just outside Liverpool. In this essay, I will be writing about the effect of and use of dramatic tension in the play. I will also be reviewing the plays general strengths and weaknesses. I will attempt to streamline the review with a degree of professionalism and fairness.
The play written by Willy Russell is set In Liverpool and revolves around Eddie and Mickey (Johnston) as they become separated by the actions of Mrs Lyons who bribes the real mother Mrs Johnston to hand over one of her twins for money and for beneficial reasons, claiming that she cannot support all her many children on her current income. She also proposes that the child would have a better life with her and her husband. The reminder of the play Blood Brothers shows the differences in lifestyle the two boys live, almost like the difference of Black and White. As the play goes on this opposite relationship is changed and the similarities of the two are made clearer. Blood Brothers also attempt to show the large gap in society between the first class and the working class people, showing
a great deal of status differences. We could see this by the language used by Mrs Lyons, the props used on stage and the characters appearance. This was especially noticeable between Eddie and Mickey. Other characters in the play include Mr Lyons and Linda who is a friend of the two brothers. Both these character take a supporting role. Linda, takes an increased role later in the play where she attracts the attention of both Mickey and Eddie, creating a complex idea of expressed love from Eddie and Mickey. She finally created the large conflict between the two Blood Brothers nearer the end of the play. One other mentionable character was the Narrator. The Narrator is a mystified character who’s purpose of narration is not entirely clear. Throughout Blood Brothers the narrator continually reminds Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnston that the arrangements will not work out. More precisely his words read, “There’s no use clutching at your rosary, The devil’s in the garden and he can see Deep inside; he can touch your bones Not he won’t, no he’s never going to let you alone. You can run you can hide but he’ll always find you Wherever you are he’s just behind you. When he rings at the chimes then he knows you’re in. No you wont, no you’ll never get away from him, No you wont, no you’ll never get away from him.”
An adaptation was made in this speech by the Phoenix theatre where the Narrator appends “The Devil’s got your number.” Into the speech, replacing ‘the chimes’. The idea of the narrator, I think is to give a continued sense of inevitability of the outcome of the play- that it can never end well as intended and that it is just a mater of time. This narration used, I thought was most effective. It added a great deal of eerie atmosphere to the play, which was needed at times to keep the play streamlined. This Narration also added a large degree of tension and mystery to the audience, which I thought, kept the play more interesting throughout; this narration was indeed a strength of Blood Brothers.
Blood Brothers made use of effective lighting and setting throughout. The setting transitions were well thought out and occurred in-frequently, which helped to keep the play easier to follow. The use of props was somewhat conservative, where the same props on-stage were used for various different tasks and proposes. This helped the audience to keep focus on the other characters rather than investigating any new items on stage. This also helped to keep the scene transition rate low. The intermission timing was appropriate- it also allowed the grew to give the set an overhaul, to emphasis the new area and setting. Music was very repetitive, and was unusually loud. Music was mixed with a high amount of treble, which assaulted the ears of the audience at times. This high treble needed to be lower as some of the middle was washed out. Blood Brothers featured a familiar beat throughout. One noticeable beat was the one just after Mrs Johnston would say “Like Marilyn Monroe.” This beat was most effective and gave a good upbeat to the soundtrack and the events happening on stage. This beat was even given a mellow mix at one time when its use was not intended to give an upbeat. This timed mellow mix helped create the idea of sadness to the audience and was well thought out. There was a variety of Songs, some were a little repetitive like Mrs Johnston’s ‘We would go dancing’. While these were entertaining at first, the continued use of the format let the singing side down a little. The Narrator’s song was always well sung with great impact and precision; though at times hard to follow because of the loudness of the music. The use of lighting in the songs added the effect, if under-used in others.
Overall, I feel Blood Brothers is a successful drama performance. However, I did be come bored just before and after the intermission as I felt things became a little repetitive. Despite the speedy scene transitions, to much time was spent dordling onstage with no real purpose. Similarly, some scenes were unnecessary and were drawn out to long to be effective. Mrs Johnston’s, ‘Go dancing’ songs were good at first but decrease in value as the play went on- sometimes I felt the songs placement was poorly thought out- as was its length. I also felt the Narrator was underused somewhat. His reason for being was never really made clear, perhaps he should have had more interaction with the characters. Mrs Lyons, body language I thought was especially good when faced with the narrator and she should be congratulated on delivering a solid performance in this regard. As was the acting by Eddie and Mickey; both character delivered strong performances, especially when the characters were in a younger stage. The adult performers pulled off a childhood effect with great accuracy and strength that deserves complementing. Infact the overall quality of the acting was very good. The Narrator spoke loudly and with clarity, and created an impressive atmosphere with his voice. Cast members seemed to be well aware of there lines and scripts, I was unable to fault the acting from a fixed script. If any improvisation did occur, it was done very well and was accepted and developed precisely. It was clear the effect of Blood Brothers was well received by the audience; I noticed that many people had enjoyed the showing. There was much talking about the narrator and how effectively he was at bringing the story together, even when perhaps I disagree In this regard. Overall, a strong spectacular performance that I would recommend to all.
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Aug 7th, 2007
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