Review: Blood Brothers UK Tour at Derby Theatre
My first introduction to Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers (originally written as a school play and first performed in 1983) was as a Year 10 English student in the early 2000s. Having fallen in love with musical theatre a couple of years earlier, I was captivated. Coincidentally, we also studied the play during GCSE drama, using it to explore the “adults acting the roles of children” theatrical trope.
At the time of writing, Blood Brothers is the third-longest running musical in West End history, beaten only by Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, and the fifth-longest running show overall (also beaten by non-musical plays The Mousetrap and The Woman in Black). It ran for over 10,000 performances between 1988 and 2012.
I haven’t actually seen the show live since I saw it on a school trip to the Theatre Royal Nottingham in 2005. So when I noticed it was playing at Derby Theatre as part of its UK tour, I jumped at the chance to revisit this classic of musical theatre.
The set for Blood Brothers on tour at Derby Theatre. Photo: mine
What’s it about?
(Note: review will plot spoilers.)
Blood Brothers, set in Liverpool in the early 1960s, is a nature-versus-nurture tale of a pair of twins separated at birth. Mrs Johnstone already has seven children and her husband has just left her. When she learns she is pregnant with twins, she realises she cannot afford to feed two more mouths.
Her wealthy employers, Mrs Lyons, is desperate for a child and persuades Mrs Johnstone to give one of the babies to her, passing the baby off as their own when her husband returns from a long business trip. To ensure Mrs Johnstone keeps their shared secret, Mrs Lyons makes up an ominous superstition:“when twins are secretly parted, if either twin learns that he was once a pair, both twins shall immediately die”.
The boys, Michael “Mickey” Johnstone and Edward “Eddie” Lyons, grow up separately until they meet and become friends at the age of 7. Though their lives diverge in wildly different directions and Mrs Lyons does everything in her power to keep them apart, the twins are repeatedly drawn back together.
Blood Brothers on tour. Photo: Jack Merriman
Any Content Notes?
This show deals with emotive and sometimes difficult themes including class differences, wealth inequality, unemployment, crime, the prison system, and mental illness (including use of antidepressants). There’s occasionally bad language (two F words that I recall, used humorously, and a few milder swearwords) and several sexual references.
The children play with toy guns in the first half and there are two loud gunshots in the final scene of the second half.
Blood Brothers UK Tour: My Review
The entire premise of this show is, well, somewhat unlikely if you look at it too closely. The text makes it clear the twins are supposed to be identical, which makes for a point of bittersweet comedy when they both wish they looked more like “That Guy”. Surely they’d notice the resemblence at some point or, if they didn’t, Linda - their mutual bestie and love interest - certainly would. But one of the joys of musical theatre is that it gets away with itself in ways that other formats cannot so readily. After all, we’re already suspending our disbelief about the characters bursting into song, so it’s relatively easy to also shrug off problematic plot points and just enjoy the journey.
Appropriately, Blood Brothers is a show of two very different halves. The first half leans more into the comedic aspects of the play, with the adult actors portraying children aged between 7 and 10, while the second takes a darker and grittier turn as the twins reach adolescence and then adulthood. I always enjoy this play’s second half more than its first. Though the first half is entertaining and undoubtedly funnier, the second half delves much more into the play’s most interesting themes.
I have mixed feelings about the theatrical phenomenon of “adults playing children” (I often think the result is corny and it’s preferable to use a skilled child actor.) But for Blood Brothers, I do think it’s the only way to make the story work. For a few moments in the first half of the show, I genuinely forgot I was watching adults, so accurate were the actors’ mannerisms and energy. The “Kids Game” scene will bring back memories for many of us.
Blood Brothers is essentially a modern Greek tragedy, making use of various classical theatrical devices. In beginning at the end, the audience learns the twins’ eventual fate moments into the play. This brings a sort of tragic inevitability as the story careens towards its conclusion. The play has a fluid relationship with the fourth wall throughout, with various characters addressing the audience directly.
Much like a Greek chorus, the omniscient Narrator acts as both the show’s moral compass and the “devil on the shoulder” of both Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. This production brought a sinister, foreboding quality to the Narrator (played by Robbie Scotcher) that worked very well. Stalking about the stage, lurking in the shadows and occasionally sidling up close behind the characters, he personified not just Mrs J and Mrs L’s mutual guilt but also our judgement of their actions.
My partner pointed out after the show that, though set in 1960s-1980s Liverpool, Blood Brothers could take place in any place and at any time where there is a class and wealth divide (in other words, pretty much any time and place in human history). Perhaps that’s why these timeless storytelling tropes work so well in this context.
Though the entire cast was excellent, I have to give a special mention to Niki Evans as Mrs Johnstone. Evans first played this role on the West End around a decade ago, and returns to it now with ten years more experience of life and motherhood. Along with her gorgeous singing voice, Evans brings a sensitive and nuanced performance of this iconic role. By the final bows she seemed completely emotionally wrung out (as were we in the audience), and her Tell Me It’s Not True will stay with me for a long time.
Sean Jones and Joel Benedict are brilliantly cast as Mickey and Eddie respectively. With similar builds, heights, and even facial features, they’re entirely believable as brothers separated at birth. They have an infectious energy as they play off each other, Jones as streetwise, adult-before-his-time Mickey and Benedict as privileged, sheltered Eddie. This contrast, coupled with the twins’ inevitable similarities, bring first hilarity and then heartbreak as the story progresses.
Carly Burns as Linda also deserves a mention for her touching portrayal of a carefree girl’s transition into a woman weighed down by hardships, responsibilities, and loving Mickey through his struggles.
The set is evocative and well utilised. Based around a Liverpool street with the exterior of a row of houses, it changes dynamically as various elements - a dining table, a stile, cinema seats - are brought on and off as needed. The use of the different levels worked well, particularly with regards to the Narrator “overseeing” the action on stage.
Blood Brothers is a show about class, about nature versus nurture, and about the roles of destiny and choice in deciding our fates. It offers no easy answers to any of the questions it raises, but it takes you on a glorious emotional journey that’s as relevant now as it was in the 1980s.
Where to get tickets
Blood Brothers continues its UK tour at various venues until October. See all the dates and buy tickets here.