ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

BLOOD BROTHERS by Willy Russell Directed by James Schofield PADOS Theatre Group

“Have you heard the story of the Johnstone twins, as like each other as two new pins…” are the opening lines stated by Simon

Fletcher, with hardly any emotion in voice or face. This was the tone that carried on throughout the narration of the play, both this and the dark, bleak, nearly all black set created the backdrop for the tragic scenes that would unfold. ‘Blood Brothers’ was written by Willy Russell, firstly as a school play that went on to become a very successful musical. Set in Liverpool and then moving out to the suburbs of the new town, Skelmersdale. It centres around Mrs Johnson, a young mother who has been deserted by her husband for a new “Marilyn Monroe”, leaving her to care for seven children. To make ends meet she takes a job as housekeeper for a middle class family, the Lyons. While working there she finds herself pregnant again but this time she is expecting twins! In a moment of desperation, she enters into a pact with her childless employer, Mrs Lyons, and swears on the bible that when they are born the couple could raise one of the twins. As their lives run in tandem we see how social class and opportunities affect the twin boys lives, which leads to a shattering and tragic climax. The PADOS Studio Theatre was a very intimate setting for this play, with the audience so close to the action, the scenes had the audience hooked on the story as it progressed and developed before them. There were a number of people that sat around me that knew little about this play and became totally engrossed in the characters, one could hear their audible gasps throughout. The matriarchal role of Mrs Johnson was played superbly by Sara Brockway. You could see the expressions of joy, pain and love that the