Mickey despairs that he was not the one given away, because then he could have had the life given to Eddie. Mickey, distraught, gestures carelessly with the gun towards Eddie. The gun goes off killing Eddie, with the police then shooting and killing Mickey.

Written during a period of huge changes in society and politics, Blood Brothers draws the audience’s attention to the detrimental effect that social inequality can have on people’s lives.

Began as a songwriter after having been influenced by seeing The Beatles in their pre fame days when I was 14 and in the D stream of a secondary school, nursing a secret desire to write. I thought that to do real writing, you had to wear tweeds, smoke a pipe and come from somewhere called Oxbridge.

The Intention Blood Brothers seems primarily to be a play which is designed simply to ENTERTAIN audiences. Russell himself says that the play started with the idea of the curse of the separated twins – it was a story that ‘sent shivers up my spine’.

A prank by a couple of rich kids and their socially inferior playmate leads to murder in “Blood Brothers,” a surprisingly uncompelling drama, based on a true story, from freshman helmer Arno Dierickx.

Mrs Johnstone walks towards the platform and tells Mickey and Edward the truth: they are twins. Mickey is furious that she gave Edward away and not him. He fires the gun by mistake, killing Edward. Mrs Johnstone’s final song expresses her shock and disbelief at the death of the twins.

Conclusion: While the opening initially seems to give a sense of the inevitability of Mickey and Edward’s deaths, revealing the ending to us means that the audience focuses on what leads to the tragic end and examines the factors involved, such as social class and violence.

Mickey is the twin brother who is brought up by his biological mother with his seven older siblings. We first meet him when he is seven years old and he is friendly and excitable. When he is a teenager, Mickey is awkward and shy, particularly with Linda – who he has feelings for, which he is unable to express.

He eventually uses his position as a city councilman to help the embittered and impoverished Mickey—but also begins an affair with Mickey’s wife, Linda, whom Edward has been in love with for years.

The main characters in Blood Brothers are the twins Mickey Johnstone and Edward Lyons, and their mothers Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. Mickey and Edward’s friend Linda, who becomes Mickey’s wife, is also an important character.

Just before Edward leaves for university he makes sure Mickey and Linda get together. Linda becomes pregnant and she and Mickey marry and move in with Mrs Johnstone. Mickey loses his job and is persuaded by Sammy to help with a garage robbery. Sammy shoots the garage attendant and Mickey gets seven years in prison.

The biological mother of Mickey and Edward (as well as a horde of other children, including Sammy and Donna Marie), Mrs. Johnstone is a deeply superstitious woman who is forever scrambling to get by, but has a good heart and a strong sense of right and wrong.

Her superstitions and lack of education enable her employer to take advantage of her. Mrs Johnstone’s poor judgement is also shown in her buying things from the catalogue that she cannot afford. Although Mrs Johnstone is very loving, she does not have control over her children and they cause a lot of trouble.

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was still common for the husband to work while his wife stayed at home to look after the house and children. Mrs Lyons doesn’t work, but she has a cleaner, and no children. At first, we feel sorry for her, because she can’t have children and her husband is distant and unsupportive.

Linda and her affair with Edward carry much responsibility for the deaths of the twins.

Blood Brothers Key Quotes. • You never put new shoes on the table” • “But y’know the devil’s got your number.” The narrator suggests the mothers will be cursed for their unnatural agreement.

Mrs Lyons: They say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair, they will both immediately die.

The main themes include:

• social class and inequality.
• superstition and fate.
• violence.

What is the main conflict in Blood Brothers? Paul hates Benjy, his brother. Paul doesn’t want to share his drawing tools. Benjy hates Paul, his brother.

Blood Brothers is set in Liverpool, between the 1950s and the 1970s. At the time, people strongly disapproved of sex before marriage and this is why Mrs Johnstone ‘has to’ marry quickly. Divorce was uncommon and this is another reason the neighbours might disapprove of her.

Think about the various ways characters in Blood Brothers are influenced by music, film and, especially, fantasy. Mr. Johnstone’s attitude toward his wife is based on her likeness to Marilyn Monroe. Mrs Johnstone’s love of ‘dancing’ is a love of escape from her everyday life.

The Narrator is an unusual character. He acts as a social conscience, drawing the audience’s attention to the rights and wrongs of characters’ actions. He also reminds the audience of the mothers’ guilt and the twins’ inevitable death.

Johnstone who becomes the moral center of the play. Similarly the kinship among Edward, Mickey, and Linda shows how people can overcome the barriers of class. Although Mickey and Linda are poor and ignorant compared to the refined Edward, the three share a tight bond.

As Mrs Johnstone and Mr and Mrs Lyons are looking at the new baby, Mrs Johnstone wants to pick him up, but Mrs Lyons tells her not to. Having persuaded her husband that they should sack Mrs Johnstone, Mrs Lyons dismisses her, giving her fifty pounds.

middle class

working classes

Liverpool

Mickey is outgoing when he meets Edward and immediately accepts him as a close friend, despite their differences. When he meets Edward, his lack of education and his use of swear words and slang are emphasised by the contrast with his blood brother , who is well educated and does not know any swear words.

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 he becomes 18, it all changes. Age: 18 years Mickey lives school at 18 and is stuck in a dead end job, assembling boxes at a factory.

The musical Blood Brothers begins as its Narrator tells the audience about the Johnstone twins, Mickey and Edward, who were separated at birth and died on the same day. Johnstone is devastated to find that she’s carrying twins.