Theatrical Review of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers

Theatrical Review of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers

Willy Russell's Blood Brothers has been performed regularly for nearly

15 years. It really is a faultless display. By the end you're left

choking with emotion. The pace is relentless, at the interval; you're

left itching to get back. I didn't know one person who left the

theatre without being in tears, or close to it. I must say it is one

of the best theatrical productions of all time.

I went to the Phoenixtheatre to see Blood Brothers with the drama

group of Pen-Y-Dre High School on September 25th 2003. We had arranged

to meet at the school by around 7:00 am for the bus would leave at

7:30. We arrived at Londonat midday, where we attended a prearranged

workshop at the Covent Garden Theatre museum. Here we looked at

theatrical devices used in Blood Brothers. I thought this helped me

understand the main devices used in the play.

I arrived at the cramped Phoenix Theatre in plenty of time for the

matinee performance, around 2:00 pm. The theatre was painted in gold

and red, rather Italian, and with typical Victorian touches, even

though the theatre was built in the 1930s. There were nude paintings

of women surrounding the top walls of the theatre. There was a great

chandelier which created an idea of massiveness to the theatre which

was in-fact smaller than I expected, and less grand, for it could have

done with some refurbishment. Though the theatre was rather old, the

Royal boxes were no longer used, but were now places to hold the

modern lighting used in the production. The lighting of the theatre

was quite modern which seemed out of place in what was an old fashion

looking th...

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...policeman who acts insane, are both symbolic of anarchy. This is

to suggest that the police are corrupt and the director's note also

quotes 'Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you'. So it

is obvious of what the director's intension was.

After seeing both performances I can say that I like them both, but

there can be very little comparison between them because they're both

so very different. The only things that both have in common is the

time period and the content of Catholicism, for LOOT uses 'Ave Maria'

and Blood Brothers shows use of a rosary. Some of the differences are

the content, the theme, the type of stage, the type of set etc, but

most importantly the message at the end, Blood Brothers was to show

that Blood is thicker than water, while LOOT had none because it was

about anarchy and disorder.