Why I love…Exploring Blood Brothers for our highest ability students

New resource added Feb 2018: Blood Brothers Revision Essays Inspired by @Matthew_Lynch44. This is just a PowerPoint of essays that students can use to help them revise for the Blood Brothers component.

I’ve taught Blood Brothers now a couple of times and I’ve been racking my brains to come up with the ways in which I can encourage students to go for the top marks with this text. As a text it is pretty straightforward, the story is simple and the themes are also fairly simple. It is, if I’m honest with myself a little on the dated side, due to the way it is presented and when it happened, however I do enjoy the story, as do the students and it is what I’m working with at the moment.

How do I solve the problem that I have identified in ensuring that students are able to aim for the top with this text?

I’m going to try to work that out in the process of writing this and would genuinely love it if other teachers have any other ideas or solutions. Here are my suggestions which I will elaborate on further:

• Focusing on the way that the text is structured would be a good way of aiming for the top.
• The form – a musical isn’t taken into enough consideration.
• Looking at the way characters are used as foils of each other.
• The use of foreshadowing throughout the play.

Structure of the Play

Firstly, we are introduced to the twins in intervals of seven years, which could be considered unlucky. We have the seven year itch, which coincides with the fact that Mrs Johnstone is a divorcee or at least separated from her husband ‘who left her’, supporting the idea that Russell’s structural use of seven years prompts bad luck. This seven year structure also helps to ensure that we see the twins lives coincide time and time again, bringing in the idea of fate playing a large part in the tragic ending. Each time we see the twins in the play, we are reminded of the stark contrast in their upbringing, whether this be from the colloquial language that Mickey uses to the proper name ‘Edward’ given to Mrs Lyons’ son and the fact that this isn’t shortened due to her upper class background, or the way that both boys have similar experiences of getting into trouble with police, but juxtaposing experiences of the law, as a result again of the class system. Russell seems to use the structure of the play to highlight class differences and to show that this divide only widens, as a result of education, opportunity and circumstance. Therefore, the structure of the play allows us to see how different their lives become, as adults and the series of events leading up to their deaths. Ironically, Mickey, prior to shooting Edward exclaims “I could have… I could have been him” with the repetition and ellipsis perhaps showing the years of pent up resentment and highlighting the injustice of a system that didn’t allow the twins the same opportunities in life. The ellipsis creates a pause which shows how devastated Mickey is, as if he is only able to choke out the words, that this is a moment of utter disbelief. This is only possible as an ending, due to the way that Russell has structured the play around the seven year life progression of the twins.

The Form

This is important as the musical form creates a cheerful backdrop for a grim story of poverty, lost hope and poor decisions. Mrs. Johnstone creates a rod for her own back by giving away Edward and ultimately loses both sons. Throughout the play, we are shown the impact of this poor decision. It is made out of fear, superstition and a desire to do the right thing, but in the whole play Mrs Johnstone is presented as a fairly one dimensional character and the songs, while upbeat and cheerful in their music have layers of hidden meaning. “My child” is a typical example of the ‘push and pull’ nature of the decision that she makes and emphasises in the lyrics and the tone of the song that it isn’t a decision taken lightly, but through coercion from Mrs Lyons. Throughout the play, at climatic points the characters burst into song and often these present the juxtaposing views of the character. My child certainly does this and offers and insight into the characters thought process. It is like listening to a monologue or soliloquy, but in song form, which is an interesting presentation as it underplays the seriousness and significance of the message in the songs, which is perhaps what Russell wanted to do as it could be argued that it is a tragedy which is almost hidden through the form of the play. There are other songs that could be taken into consideration in this analysis, but it would make this post extraordinarily long!

Character Foils

This is most obvious with the twins, but also used with the female matriarchs Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. Money, husband and a big house are presented as the ultimate goal in a society driven by capitalism and status, however all Mrs Lyons aspires to have is a child, yet we have a foil in Mrs Johnstone, who is poor, lucky (in the broadest sense) to have several children and has no husband. Here the contrast is absolutely crystal clear. Russell has created characters who are polar opposites and it almost smacks you in the face as you read and watch the play. However, although obvious this elicits sympathy in different ways for each character. Mrs Lyons ‘appears’ to have everything, yet is so unhappy that she deceives her husband, driving her to have a nervous disposition and a dissatisfaction and fear that everything in her life will implode. Mrs Johnstone, on the other hand , is stereotypically unconcerned for the most part about giving up her child and the only time we see any emotion is when she hands him the locket. She appears to be able to get on with her life in quite a stoic way, which may be another way that Russell is exploring the class system. Working class people, like Mrs Johnstone, are used to dealing with hardship, therefore they cope and are strong, whereas the upper class flounder, fail and ultimately go mad, as a result of the hardships that they have to deal with.

The use of foreshadowing

Right at the start (mimicking Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet) the narrator is foreshadowing the death of the twins at the end of the play in:

“So did y’ hear the story

Of the Johnstone twins?

As like each other as two new pins

Of one womb born, on the self same day,

How one was kept and one given away?

An’ did you never hear how the Johnstones died,

Never knowing that they shared one name,

Till the day they died, when a mother cried

My own dear sons lie slain.

An did y’ never hear of the mother so cruel,

There’s a stone in place of her heart?

Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves

How she came to play this part.”

 

Here we have an introduction reminiscent of the prologue of Romeo and Juliet and if this intertextual link isn’t high level enough, then I’m not sure what is! Here we have an exact retelling of the story in prologue form, which reinforces how the characters will die at the end of the play. Students often miss this as it is extremely subtle, but also extremely important in my opinion. This isn’t the only example of foreshadowing throughout the play, however probably the most important. It also reflects the Greek Tragedy element of the story and the critic Mark Fisher states “show an air of Greek tragedy. It had a narrative arc to match. That could have been pretentious, except this show was also boisterous, earthy and funny.” which I think reinforces my earlier opinion of the musical nature of the play being important.

I’d also probably like to think about the omniscient narrator as a way of exploring at a high level, but honestly this is probably long enough!

I really would love to hear how other teachers are ensuring that the choice of text isn’t limiting to their students, as I think it is really important to ensure that the students are able to achieve to the highest levels possible and that is for all abilities.