Lana Alia Shukir 11S

Blood Brothers evaluation

7271

Unit 2 evaluation of live performance, Blood Brothers by Will Y Russell at The Phoenix Theatre
Blood Brothers is the story of two twins separated at birth set in 1960s Liverpool. One remained with his working class mother and the other was given to a middle class family. Both lived very different lives but suffered the same fate. Blood brothers was completed in 1981, two years after the election of Conservative Margaret Thatcher. She weakened the workers unions and privatised many of the publicly owned companies. In turn this meant that the unemployment rate soared. This had the greatest impact on the working class areas of the country; including Liverpool. Blood Brothers is a musical performed on a proscenium arch stage. Although it addressed very real and relevant issues, various styles were used. Stylised caricatures were used early on in the play for the children s roles which became more naturalistic as the play progressed and the children grew up. Some aspects of the play were rather abstract like the ominous narrator who was both omnipresent and omniscient. There were also aspects of comedy present throughout. As a musical some scenes (singing scenes) were not realistic but were there for humour or sometimes to create a nightmare like feel to the scene. The stage was not grossly large so spacing had to be considered carefully. For the first half the backdrop for the scenery was that of the city with little light bulbs for city lights. The Johnstone home (the estate) was on the left hand side. This was made to look like terraced houses made out of this brownish brick which made the house look grimy and neglected. There was also a wall at the back of the estate (made of the same type of brick) with graffiti and improvised chalk goalposts. This was effective in portraying it to be a rough area. It was clear that this was where the working class lived. Due to the limiting space, despite living in different neighbourhoods, the Lyons house was to the right of the stage, rather close to the Johnstone home. To show that they lived in two different neighbourhoods different scenery had to be used. For the Lyons home a backdrop of the living room was brought down using flyers. Furniture was also carried in from the side. The backdrop was of a fireplace with striped blue and white wallpaper on the walls. The furniture was posh and matched the walls. This served well as a contrast to the estate and the striped wallpaper was representative of the times (stripes were popular in the 60s). The setting in the Lyons home made it clear that they were privileged, certainly more so than the Johnstones. After the interval the scenery changed as the Johsntones had moved to the countryside. The scenery was that of fields and countryside. The houses were still in the same position and the Johnstones still lived on a terraced estate only this time, the houses did not look so grimy and neglected as the threshold etc were painted bright, garish colours, representative of the 60s. For scenes like the funfair and unemployment scene, signs and lights would be dropped down from the fly loft or folded in from the sides. Other larger props were brought in by the actors themselves. Movements and changes were swift and the acting compensated for the lack of visuals and rather simple scenery. Lighting was used throughout the play to portray different emotions. LED lights were used in the first half as city lights and during the funfair scene many colourful, flashing lights were dropped down or flipped in from the side. Different coloured lights represented different emotions. Blue lighting was used for the scenes in which Mrs Lyons was overcome by paranoia. Red lighting was used in scenes in which Mickey became angry or hysterical. The most obvious use of lighting was the sudden switch to dark blue lighting whenever the narrator came on. This continuous switch to dark blue lighting gave the sense of an omen and made scenes with the narrator more dramatic and eerie. Spotlighting was also used to focus on the most important character in a particular scene.

Lana Alia Shukir 11S

Blood Brothers evaluation

7271

As a musical, the use of sound in the play was important. At the beginning a recording of Mrs Johnstone s children was used as they were calling her from offstage. This recording was effective as it highlighted just how rushed off her feet Mrs Johnstone is because of the number of children she has to deal with. Music was also used to accompany the singing which, I think, was done well. The singing of some of the characters, however, was not brilliant. Drums were used to open the narrator s scenes. The sudden bang on the drums was quite dramatic, adding to suspense. Another effective use of sound was the gunshot at the end of the play. The loud bang really startled some of the audience and proved as a brilliant climax for the tense scene. A good example of how costume reflects character is that of Mickey and Edward. Mickey s costume was a pair of brown shorts and a baggy, grubby dark green vest with dirt marks and holes all over it. His hair was also unbrushed and he had dirt on his face, arms and legs which suggested that he himself was dirty and perhaps didn t shower as often as he should. The state of his clothing was a reflection of his unfortunate background. Even during school he didn t wear school uniform, perhaps because his family could not afford it. The wellworn, dirty costume was effective in representing his social standing. In contrast to this, Edward s clothing was always clean. His hair was always brushed put in place tidily. He wore teal shorts with a blazer to match. His socks were always pulled up and there didn t appear to be creases on his clothing. He always looked well kept. Not a stain, a hole or fraying could be found on his clothing. It was clear that Edward took good care of his appearance and clothing. This was in complete contrast to Mickey who would often stretch his jumper etc. I feel as though the actor for Edward portrayed their character the most accurately out of most of the actors. Although the portrayal of the children was supposed to be stylised and caricature like, Edward s character was more believable. It was exaggerated but some of the other actors made it seem as though their character had a learning disability of some sort. His accent was consistent throughout and projected his voice well so that he could be heard. He used his posture, voice and facial expression to play a young and innocent child successfully. Even when the character was transitioning from child to teen to adult, he maintained that sense of innocence and immaturity that Edward has. The changes whilst Edward was growing up were subtle, as they usually are naturally, which was realistic. The actor playing Linda had the most convincing and consistent Liverpudlian accent. Again, this actor projected themselves well so they were heard. When playing a child she portrayed the rough or tomboyish Linda very well using an assertive tone. Again, the actor did not over do her portrayal of her character and so the character was believable. The transition from a child to a teenager was also done well. Not only did the costume change make it obvious but her tone and posture meant that the changes were apparent. She began to stand more upright, chest out, whilst flaunting her new teenage self. Her voice and movements were extremely flirtatious and you could see through the assertiveness in her voice that her sense of self was increasing. Linda s change into an adult was also done very well. By adulthood Linda had already experienced hardships and so was no longer as confident and lively as she once was. She no longer wore heels or dressed provocatively. I do feel, however, that the actor could have perhaps done a little more to show just how fatigued Linda was as an adult. Linda still stood upright and had a sense of assertiveness to her voice which would have gone as she became more fed up with life. Overall I do think that the play was done well. However I feel as though a musical wasn t perhaps the best approach for a play addressing such issues, especially because most of the actors weren t strong vocally. The scenery was rather minimal which meant that one wasn t distracted from the performance, which would have worked in its favour if the performance was stronger. The usage of adults to play children was a good idea but I think the portrayal of the children was a little too exaggerated to the point where it became unbelievable and far too far from reality. I understand that the narrator s role was as an omnipresent omen but the lurking about and cutting into the scene, bursting into song, took away from the sinister aspect of the narrator which,

Lana Alia Shukir 11S

Blood Brothers evaluation

7271

in a way, meant that the real significance of the narrator was lost. For a play addressing such serious issues, I personally think that a more realistic and naturalistic form of theatre should have been used.