WILLY Russell’s 1983 hit musical Blood Brothers is a heartfelt morality tale that has lost none of its power or currency.
It tells the story of Mrs Johnstone – a working-class, Scouse single mother with too many mouths to feed – who is induced to give up one of her newborn twin boys for undeclared adoption by her well-heeled, childless employer.
Russell’s sympathies with working-class people – and working-class women, in particular – have been well-established by such plays as Educating Rita (1980) and Shirley Valentine (1986).
Blood Brothers – despite the masculinity of its titular protagonists – has a similar focus on the complex “double burden” (of class and gender) that has always been carried by working women.
This latest UK tour – which is staged by the theatre production company of the longstanding chair of Everton Football Club, the late Bill Kenwright – plays in Inverness and Glasgow in the coming weeks. It is a brilliantly crafted piece of musical theatre.
From the moment Scott Anson’s streetwise, rhyming narrator wanders onto the stage, we know we are in safe hands.
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The show boasts a score – including such well-known songs as Bright New Day and Tell Me It’s Not True – that draws effectively upon the traditions of both the popular stage musical and rock ‘n’ roll.
The production is also blessed with a series of vivid, versatile sets that take us from the working-class areas of Liverpool, to the opulent home of the very bourgeois Mr and Mrs Lyons, and the modest optimism of Skelmersdale new town.
A universally excellent cast tells the story of Mickey Johnstone (Sean Jones) and Edward Lyons (Joe Sleight), the boys who – despite the social gulf between them (and unaware that they are, in fact, twins) – become childhood friends and “blood brothers”.
Vivienne Carlyle is magnificent (both in speech and in powerfully emotive song) in the crucial role of Mrs Johnstone, the stressed-out mother of a brood of beloved children (including Mickey and “our Sammy”, who has sought the criminal route out of poverty).
The production bowls towards its tragic conclusion with confidence and a paradoxically gritty panache.
In particular, the regular repetition of the song Marilyn Monroe promotes a series of increasingly strained similes between the ill-fated American star and characters in the play.
Also, if, like me, you are turned off by the comedy of adults playing child characters, Blood Brothers will stretch your credulity; despite the tremendous performances of Jones, Sleight and Jess Smith (in the role of Linda, the girl who steals the hearts of both brothers).
Such choices are typical of the bold, sentimental streak in Russell’s drama. Whether they are to your taste or not, however, there’s no denying that this is a marvellous production of a compelling and much-loved musical.
At Eden Court, Inverness, October 8-12, and King’s Theatre, Glasgow, October 15-19: kenwright.com
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