Blood Brothers · GCSE English Literature

Plot

In Liverpool, Mrs Johnstone, a poor mother of seven whose husband has left her, is expecting twins. Her wealthy employer, Mrs Lyons, who can't have children, persuades her to give her one of the babies. Mrs Lyons then invents a superstition: twins separated at birth will die if they learn the truth.
At seven, Mickey (raised by Mrs Johnstone) and Edward (raised by the Lyons family) meet, become best friends and swear to be blood brothers. Frightened, Mrs Lyons moves her family to the countryside.
The Johnstones are rehoused nearby, and the boys meet again as teenagers, along with their friend Linda.
Edward goes to university. Mickey works in a factory, marries Linda when she becomes pregnant, then loses his job. He takes part in a robbery with his brother Sammy in which a man is shot, and is sent to prison, where he becomes depressed and dependent on pills.
Linda turns to Edward, now a councillor, for help, and they grow close. Mrs Lyons tells Mickey. He confronts Edward with a gun, Mrs Johnstone reveals that they are twins, the gun goes off, killing Edward, and the police shoot Mickey.

Social class, fate and superstition, nature and nurture, friendship, childhood and growing up, and violence.

Willy Russell wrote it as a school play (1981), then as a musical (1983). It is set in Liverpool from the 1950s to the 1980s, a time of high unemployment and deep class division, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.

The Narrator acts like a chorus in a Greek tragedy, reminding the audience of fate and superstition. The play begins by showing the twins' deaths, so the audience watches knowing how it will end.
Songs, repeated motifs (such as superstitions, the locket and guns) and adult actors playing children all shape the audience's response.

Narrator: A character who comments on the action and speaks to the audience.
Chorus: In Greek tragedy, a group who comment on the action.
Superstition: A belief that certain actions bring good or bad luck.
Foreshadowing: Hints about what will happen later.
Nature and nurture: The debate over whether character comes from birth or upbringing.
Motif: A repeated image or idea, such as guns in Blood Brothers.
Musical: A play in which songs are an important part of the story.