Blood Brothers The Play

When the curtain went up, we were met with an ideal set which portrayed what was going to happen so well – thoughtfully designed by Douglas Morgan.

I have to admit that I have never seen the musical version of this play, although I know that everyone who has seen it rates it very highly.  The story therefore was very new to me and what a story!

In this very well cast production we were given moments of humour and a lot of pathos in this tale of two families living quite close together but who were entirely different. The Johnstones were a down to earth family of the lower classes with children who got into all sorts of trouble as opposed to the Lyons who were definitely upper class, living in a lovely house with plenty of money but without the only thing that Mrs Lyons really desired – a baby.

Mrs Johnstone was Mrs Lyons’ cleaner and when Mrs Johnstone became pregnant yet again and with twins no less, the two decided that one should go to Mrs Lyons to be brought up with all the facilities of the upper class.  Mrs Lyons insisted that the twins should never know that they were brothers and threatened that if this happened she would kill them both.

The Narrator, Peter Coleman, took us through the story in appropriately sinister fashion so we should have been prepared for the tragic ending.  However, at the age of seven  (nearly 8 in Mickey’s case!) the two did meet and became friends and literally blood brothers.  I’m still trying to work out how these two adult actors managed to convey that they were children and the same goes for Linda, their friend.  They certainly did this and Tim Peck as Eddie, Mike Cotton as Mickey and Lauren Hollands as Linda are to be sincerely congratulated on their skill in this regard.

Georgia Jones played Mrs Johnstone as someone who, in the beginning, took life as it comes (great acting) and Christine Holford portrayed Mrs Lyons as the upper class lady who always seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, especially when she moved with Edward to the country, only to be followed by the Johnstones when they moved to a council house nearby. By this time, the grown up Eddie and Mickey had met again and as they were so different, difficulties ensued.

Christopher Peck played the Milkman and the Doctor with Alison Avann as the Policewoman in ideal fashion.

When the tragic ending occurred, I think everyone like me sat with their mouths open in disbelief for a few seconds before a very long and extremely well deserved round of applause broke out.

Many congratulations to all involved and in particular to Director Diane Harris for all her work in giving us such a worthwhile production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.