This week, I went to see the premier of Blood Brothers at The Lowry. The closest I have come to knowing anything about the story was a 5 minute extract I’d seen the Year 10’s put on in the school hall. I was in Year 9 at the time, and this interpretation happened to star someone I had my eye on. One stabbing scene in, and a ripped shirt later, I was faced with bare chests and lots of on-stage testosterone fuelled adrenaline. As I’m sure you can expect, I paid absolutely no attention to the story.
Fortunately, as with most musicals, I didn’t really need to. Starting off with the name, Blood Brothers, and a basic summary on The Lowry website, I understood it is about two brothers separated at birth who go on to lead very different lives. The brothers meet by chance years later, and through tragic circumstances (or perhaps fate, depending on your interpretation), they both eventually end up dead. I was expecting some stabbing/shooting to take place (school production memories come flooding back), but had no idea about some of the real issues this story covers.
I arrived to a packed theatre which is always a good sign. The production started rather unusually with the house lights on, and kicked off with police men covering up two dead bodies, before taking them off stage. Warrick Evans, who plays the narrator, starts with a poem, ‘So, did you hear the story of the Johnston twins?’ The lights then dim down, and the narrator hints at the dark story that is about to unfold before us.
The story then takes a surprisingly upbeat turn as we welcome Maureen Nolan who plays Mrs Johnston, a young woman from Liverpool. We are taken on a whirlwind journey and find out about how she fell in love, got married and had children at a young age. A few years later her husband leaves her for another woman, and she is once again pregnant and left with several kids to feed. All of this is told through the famous ‘Marilyn Monroe’ song, which is repeated several times through-out the show. The song is really catchy, and with its changing tempo and lyrics, it draws on a range of emotions each time it is sung.
‘He told me I was sexier than Marilyn Monroe
And we went dancing
We went dancing’
‘By the time I was twenty-five
I looked like forty-two
With seven hungry mouths to feed
And one more nearly due
My husband, He walked out on me
A month or two ago’
We soon come to learn that Mrs Johnson is having twins, and concerned about how she will make ends meet, she confides in Mrs Lyons, the lady whose house she cleans. Mrs Lyons, who is desperate to have children, but unable to conceive, proposes that as brings up one of the twins as her own.
‘How quickly an idea, planted, can
Take root and grow into a plan.
The thought conceived in this very room
Grew as surely as a seed, in a mothers’ womb’
And so, the twins are split at birth, one brought up by Mrs Lyons, and the other by Mrs Johnston. We follow both families on their separate journeys and watch the boys grow up to live polar opposite lives, with scenes full of laughter and fun along the way. Aged seven, the boys meet by chance, and soon become best friends much to both of their mothers’ discontent. Although forbidden to see one another, and despite several obstacles preventing them from being friends, the boys meet again in their early teens. This is when we get a sense of what might go wrong between the brothers, as a love-triangle forms between them and Mickey’s childhood sweetheart Linda (who happens to be my favourite character).
I won’t ruin the story by going into any more detail, but I found the piece to be full of unexpected humour, underpinned by darker themes of unemployment, the class system in the UK, borderline poverty and extreme violence. The production wasn’t afraid to be gritty, and takes an emotional turn in the second half.
There are of course, as with most musicals, the occasional cheesy moments, but if you embrace this, it almost feels natural, and is certainly an intrinsic part of the success of the production. I don’t really like rating musicals, but I would give it a 4/5 and would say it has mass appeal, whilst still having some depth. If you are contemplating the £36 ticket price, I would say go for it. Having now experienced this infamous musical for myself, I completely understand the hype and would say it is as relevant today as it was when it first hit the West-End in the 1980s.
Manchester to the world 