Blood Brothers

Revision

Themes Class divide

Themes Class divide

Family

Themes Class divide

Family Growing up

Themes Class divide

Family Growing up

Superstition and Fate

Themes Class divide

Family Growing up

Superstition and Fate Hopes and Dreams

Themes Class divide

Family Growing up

Superstition and Fate Hopes and Dreams

Nature versus Nurture

Themes Class divide

Family Growing up

Superstition and Fate Hopes and Dreams

Nature versus Nurture Love and Marriage

Characters

Mrs Johnstone

Mickey

Other children including Sammy and Donna-Marie

Linda

Mrs Lyons

Mr Lyons

Edward Lyons

Narrator

Chorus to play minor roles such as Miss Jones

Motifs

What is a motif?

Motifs

Marilyn MonroeGuns - toy and

realThe idea of gamesDancing

Techniques

What dramatic techniques are used by Willy Russell in order to

Engage the audience?

Communicate themes?

Techniques

Parallel scenes to bring out class differences

Use of key episodes to give a flavour of life, since play covers a long period of time

Use of songs – monologues/soliloquoy

Use of motifs

Narrator and chorus

Flashback – starts with final scene

Dramatic Irony

Language

The working class characters speak in Liverpool dialect, which makes them sound natural, warm and likeable.

The middle class characters speak in standard English, with Received Pronunciation. This is a cause of humour when the boys first meet.

The Role of the Narrator What does he do?

How does he do it?

The Role of the Narrator Comments on the action

Tells the story and involves the audience

Links episodes together

Warns of danger by appearing on stage at crucial times

Points out themes

Asks audience questions

What do the songs add to the

Play?

What do the songs add to the

Play?

Link scenes and draw parallels

Remind the audience of key themes

Link the two halves of the play by using some of the same words / tunes, such as ‘Easy Terms’

Mood and atmosphere

Humour and pathos

Fill in parts of the plot

The tragic outcome is inevitable from the very start. Discuss.

The tragic outcome is inevitable from the very start. Discuss.

Theme of Superstition and Fate

Starting with final scene

Continual warnings from the narrator

The Marilyn Monroe motif

The gun motif

Nurture – Johnstone family are in trouble from the start. E.g. Sammy’s behaviour and Mrs Johnstone’s fears for Mickey

Class divide

To what extent do you feel

sympathy for Mrs Johnstone? At the start, very little: ‘a stone in place of a heart’, but

gradually, as the story unfolds, we feel much more:

Husband walks out leaving her with little money

Mrs Lyons pushes her into it

She does it ‘for the best’

She’s a loving mother to all her children

She stays cheerful and makes the best of things

But do we also feel she could have controlled her children better, been harder on them?

What does this play have to say

about class? The class divide is unfair

Russell shows that two people with identical DNA can be so different in what they achieve because working class people were denied the chances to develop

Russell poses the question: ‘could it be what we, the English, have come to know as class?’

Money can’t buy love but it can buy power.

Now you try…

What has this play to say about mother / child relationships?

How is the theme of love presented? You may consider family love, romantic love and married love.

How far do you think Russell presents the working class characters in a more favourable light than the middle class characters?

Can you think of any other questions?