Review: Blood Brothers on tour

As one of the UK’s well known musicals, Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers was a staple of London’s Theatreland for almost twenty five years. Although it was forced to close up shop after being smouldered by the Olympics effect, the show is far from being a dusty artefact as it is now on tour.

It is extremely difficult to review a show which has a cult following. If you Google ‘Blood Brothers’, most of the reviews focus on the fact that it has amassed over ten thousand performances in the West End. Most of the comments this time around have focused on how, aside from Sporty Spice, Maureen Nolan has picked up the coveted role of Mrs Johnstone. Although some may say that the show is dated, the Blood Brothers’ cult following is not solely because of the national curriculum or the eighties generation pining for nostalgia.

As clearly seen through this week’s performance, this musical has been successful because it is relatable. In an interview with Liveread, Russell states that when he writes he’s ‘got to find the universal in the people (he) knows for them to then become characters.’ This is what seems to be the secret behind the success of Blood Brothers. We can relate to the emotions and the frustrations as the characters grow up. The actors do such a great job in portraying the gleefulness of childhood. If it weren’t for their hairiness, you would think they were kids.

The comedy is notched up later on because of how awful puberty is. The first song of the second act is rife with innuendos and playful banter – enough to force Nolan out of character. The cast were laughing at themselves just as much the audience were. It looked suspiciously like the predatory, devilish narrator was trying not to laugh as well. But when the hysterics waned, there was silence amongst the audience as the characters came to grip with reality. Nolan’s vocals may be superior but Sean Jones is the star of the show. The audience were sobered by his portrayal of Mickey who deals with unemployment, crime and depression. Because of this, a common complaint about Blood Brothers is that its plot is so heavy and therefore, there is no catharsis.

This musical does engage with the rainbow of emotions, yet there is still a sense of hope. If you listen to the finale song ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’, the characters wish that the tragedy is not true but we know that it is. Consequently we can learn from the Blood Brothers tragedy.

This links to another point, that the musical is avidly followed because of the resonance of its message. This play was Russell’s response to the Thatcherite neoliberal rhetoric that ‘hard work breeds success’. Through the symmetry in the staging and the characters, Russell points out how success is not just due to nature, but also nurture. In his attempt to portray how our environment affects our life chances, the musical is potent with symbolism about class. The tensions between the working and middle class is evident in the differences between the ‘trash’ Johnstones and the ‘soft’ Lyons.

As the first half of the play spent considerable time on conveying the different environments each twin grew up in, the songs were incredibly jarring once you got the message. But the second half was a considerable improvement due to better (and more political) material. This is reflected in the cast’s increased energy in the second act. Their stellar performance of ‘Take a Letter, Miss Jones’ in particular, encapsulates the consequences of unemployment, which are still relatable today. Even though some of us may not feel stringently constrained by class as Russell believes, it reminds us that we have to contextualise success as not everyone starts out on an equal footing.

All in all, it is because of Blood Brothers‘ emotional and political relatability that makes me believe this is the only truly gritty musical around.