Blood Brothers

By Willy Russell
Willy Russell
• Willy Russell is a British playwright born in 1947 to a working
class family and grew up near Liverpool.

• Russell was influenced by his upbringing, social and political

context of the 1980s.

• Russell’s style was influenced by German playwright and

director Bertolt Brecht.

• Russell’s play have a strong social message and often explores

social inequality and problems faced by working class people.
Background
Social Class
• In the 1980s there was a strong class divide, middle class people
had more opportunities than working class people. This was
reflected in education, job opportunities and wealth.

• There was also a serious unemployment problem many working

class people were losing there jobs due to the government closing
traditional industries e.g. shipbuilding and coal mining. This
happened when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in
1979.
Background
Housing
• Many working class people lived in council houses, they were usually
small and overcrowded and often made from cheap materials like
concrete, they had to be built quickly after World War 2 due to damage
caused by bomb raids.
• Liverpool also had more wealthy areas where middle class people lived
and these areas were larger and of better quality.
• In the 1960s the city council tried to improve the overcrowding problem
by moving people to Skelmersdale a new town in the countryside that
was already home to many middle class people.
• Housing conditions were better in the new towns and were filled with
newly built housing that were cleaner, safer and more modern.
• There was still a class divide in the new towns. Working class residents
were often grouped together in council estates, and middle class people
lived in bigger house separate from the ret and were apart of the existing
Blood Brothers
• Blood brothers was written in 1982.
• Blood Brothers is set in Liverpool, between the 1950s and the
1970s.
• Willy Russell original wrote blood brothers for Merseyside
Yong People’s Theatre Company, this theatre in education
project performed plays in schools around Liverpool.
• The original version of blood brothers only had one song and
Russell began adapting the play into a musical immediately and
was then first performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983
• The musical version of Blood brothers was first performed in
1983 and went on to become one of the longest running
musicals ever performed on the West End.
Play Summary
• The play is about twin boys separated at birth one living in
a big working-class family and the other in a small middle
class and their upbringing in 1960-1970s.

• Some of the main themes of this play are class divide and
opportunity, money, superstition and family these themes
show how someone’s life can be changed by things out of
their control.

• The characters in Blood Brothers are fictional but Russell

use them to comment on real social issues of the 1980s.