Blood Brother Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 24th September 2024 Review
Blood Brothers is at the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 24 - Sat 28 September), and it is clear that, despite approaching nearly 45 years old, this classic work for stage by Willy Russell (Book, music and lyrics) has lost none of its power, passion, or biting social commentary on the class system in Britain.
If you have yet to see Blood Brothers and do not know the story, then I have no intention of giving away any spoilers in this review. If you, for some reason, think that a stage musical is not for you then think again too as even without the music and lyrics, Blood Brothers is a powerful drama in its own right.
Over the years, the two leading female roles in Blood Brothers have become iconic ones in musical theatre and anyone performing the main role of Mrs Johnstone has to somehow try and stamp their own identity upon a character which has in the past been portrayed by some very famous names of stage and music. Tonight that task fell to Vivienne Carlyle, who clearly understood that Willy Russell created not only a great script for her character, but a woman of real depth, strength and power, and that to bring Mrs Johnstone to life on stage often required very measured and restrained performances.
Performing the other great female role in this story, Mrs Lyons, is Sarah Jane Buckley and her take on a woman who is constantly living in fear of her past actions being discovered and becoming more and more unstable as the story progresses is a very good one.
Of course, Blood Brothers needs its brothers and in this production Sean Jones (Mickey) and Joe Sleight (Eddie) are well cast in their respective roles that have so much to say about how two brothers who should have shared the same start in life had their destinies changed forever by that unbridgeable gap of the have and have-nots at birth. Poverty and wealth and the choices that both offer are always a driving force in this story. Very much a part of the brothers’ story is Linda (Gemma Brodrick) and her performance of a young girl who has to grow up all too quickly to cope with the many problems that life puts in her way adds much to the social power of this story tonight.
The portrayal of all of the children in this story by the adults playing their later selves may at first seem an odd one, and it always (for me anyhow) takes a little bit of time to adjust to this, but Blood Brothers did start life as a school play. Somehow though it all works so well here and the fact that Blood Brothers has been a Global hit for decades proves without doubt that the right choices were made here.
Part of the success of this show is down to the choice to use a narrator (Scott Anson) to tell the audience the story of the Johnstone family and the Blood Brothers, and this very Shakespearean approach has some very powerful and poignant moments in its dialogue. The narrator here must always tell the story but never overshadow it, and Scott Anson clearly understands the needs of this role.
Blood Brothers is of course a musical, and here too, Willy Russell has created some classics, including “Marilyn Monroe”, “My Child” and “Easy Terms”. The life and death of Marilyn Monroe is a constant background theme to this story and the skill with which Willy Russell subtly weaves the events of Blood Brothers in and out of moments in her life is a tribute to his skill as a writer.
Tonight everything was falling into place in this production, as drama, music and songs interwove with one another to tell a story of real depth and emotion. As always in this production a very good and often uncluttered stage set, lighting, and sound created the world for this story to be played out upon.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you have yet to see Blood Brothers and do not know the story, then I have no intention of giving away any spoilers in this review. If you, for some reason, think that a stage musical is not for you then think again too as even without the music and lyrics, Blood Brothers is a powerful drama in its own right.
Over the years, the two leading female roles in Blood Brothers have become iconic ones in musical theatre and anyone performing the main role of Mrs Johnstone has to somehow try and stamp their own identity upon a character which has in the past been portrayed by some very famous names of stage and music. Tonight that task fell to Vivienne Carlyle, who clearly understood that Willy Russell created not only a great script for her character, but a woman of real depth, strength and power, and that to bring Mrs Johnstone to life on stage often required very measured and restrained performances.
Performing the other great female role in this story, Mrs Lyons, is Sarah Jane Buckley and her take on a woman who is constantly living in fear of her past actions being discovered and becoming more and more unstable as the story progresses is a very good one.
Of course, Blood Brothers needs its brothers and in this production Sean Jones (Mickey) and Joe Sleight (Eddie) are well cast in their respective roles that have so much to say about how two brothers who should have shared the same start in life had their destinies changed forever by that unbridgeable gap of the have and have-nots at birth. Poverty and wealth and the choices that both offer are always a driving force in this story. Very much a part of the brothers’ story is Linda (Gemma Brodrick) and her performance of a young girl who has to grow up all too quickly to cope with the many problems that life puts in her way adds much to the social power of this story tonight.
The portrayal of all of the children in this story by the adults playing their later selves may at first seem an odd one, and it always (for me anyhow) takes a little bit of time to adjust to this, but Blood Brothers did start life as a school play. Somehow though it all works so well here and the fact that Blood Brothers has been a Global hit for decades proves without doubt that the right choices were made here.
Part of the success of this show is down to the choice to use a narrator (Scott Anson) to tell the audience the story of the Johnstone family and the Blood Brothers, and this very Shakespearean approach has some very powerful and poignant moments in its dialogue. The narrator here must always tell the story but never overshadow it, and Scott Anson clearly understands the needs of this role.
Blood Brothers is of course a musical, and here too, Willy Russell has created some classics, including “Marilyn Monroe”, “My Child” and “Easy Terms”. The life and death of Marilyn Monroe is a constant background theme to this story and the skill with which Willy Russell subtly weaves the events of Blood Brothers in and out of moments in her life is a tribute to his skill as a writer.
Tonight everything was falling into place in this production, as drama, music and songs interwove with one another to tell a story of real depth and emotion. As always in this production a very good and often uncluttered stage set, lighting, and sound created the world for this story to be played out upon.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com