Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers

[LitNetIsGreat]

Have you seen or read this play? What are your thoughts? I'd be interested to hear what people think of it.

I’m a big fan and not one usually over fond of musicals at all, but this is outstanding. I’ve been lucky enough to see the West End production of this on tour twice this week in Sheffield (including today) and I’d go again given half the chance. Also saw it at Leeds last year with the same stage set-up, very emotive, even for a cold heart like me. :)

Some information if you are unfamiliar with this work.
http://www.willyrussell.com/blood1.html

What do you think about it?

[oblivion252]

Very good, saw it at the Phoenix Theatre in London - good play; the narrator is fantastic.
For me though, it doesn't match Coram Boy.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yeah me too, he's obviously the personification of fate or the guilty conscious of the mothers, something like that, it works very well, there's even a few times when they both interact which is always interesting.

I often dislike musicals because the songs often interrupt the performance or seem to disrupt the flow, but that doesn't happen here, the songs work with the action on stage.

[kelby_lake]

I read the play and really liked it. It's a simple idea but it really works. It was originally written for a secondary school to perform.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes that's right or rather it was performed in secondary schools first before being later adapted into the whole thing it is today. I read it after I saw it the first time but it is a play which really burns to be seen. He's a bit from the program in which Willy talks about the early stages going into secondary schools:


They are the most difficult audiences on earth. Kids don't sit there politely having paid £40 for posh seats, putting up with rubbish. If they're in a school where they're not allowed to walk out if the discipline's fairly tight, they'll still make it known what they think of being made to sit there. I know because I was one of those kids myself once, and I remember how horrendous it is to be patronised or condescended to or make to suffer some crap. I know it was my job to hook the most disinterested, antipathetic little buggers sitting at the back, the ones like me all those years ago! Most schools are great, but sometimes you'd go to one where the staff don't give a toss, the show was coming up to 70 minutes so they just had that time off. They'd just point you in the direction of the hall and you'd find two hundred truculent, resentful kids. Five actors would have to walk into the middle of that space and, without any lights or scenery and a minimum of props, just go bang! and grab them. And I have to say I never saw it fail to do that.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I just thought that I would bump this old thread up to see if anyone else wants to comment on this play. I rate this play very highly and think it is an important piece of theatre, at least in terms of British theatre. It is obviously politically left and shows the devastating affects of social conditioning. A very interesting and moving theatrical piece from an interesting writer. Highly recommended.

[aamir]

I actually saw it in February of this year, also in Sheffield. When did you see it? I had to go to see it for my drama GCSEs, and I wasn't expecting much, but the performance was thoroughly amazing, and it got quite emotional in places. It's a great play, and I am actually studying it in drama right now too, so I've also read it twice.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I actually saw it in February of this year, also in Sheffield. When did you see it? I had to go to see it for my drama GCSEs, and I wasn't expecting much, but the performance was thoroughly amazing, and it got quite emotional in places. It's a great play, and I am actually studying it in drama right now too, so I've also read it twice.

Excellent! I am glad you enjoyed it. I would agree it is an amazing production, it is an amazing play altogether, and true, it is emotional in places.

It would have been the same performance that I saw too at the Lyceum, I was fortunate to see it twice, once when I took a school group during a matinee performance and once at night. I have also seen a slightly different production in Leeds the year before, but all of them were quite outstanding.

I really do rate this play as an important theatrical production, and I think that in years to come this piece will only grow in significance.

Good luck with your studies on this play, I am sure that you will do well having put in the commitment to read the play twice over.

[Drkshadow03]

Oh, you know the devil has your number!

[aamir]

I like the Marilyn Monroe song!
Yeah, I saw it at the Lyceum too. It was a great day!