Blood Brothers Review

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Blood Brothers is back for another run at the Regent Theatre in Hanley, and quite simply, you need to see it! Having never read the book, it enables me to judge it on its merits alone, and it’s absolutely brilliant!

Set in the 1960’s, Blood Brothers, a musical by Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell, revolves around twin boys Mickey (Sean Jones) and Edward (Joe Sleight) born into a poor family and separated at birth, brought up in completely different social environments in the city. Social status stories are a speciality for Willy Russell, given that he wrote Blood Brothers hot off the heels of the hugely successful “Educating Rita”.

Mickey is brought up with his seven older siblings by his struggling single mother, Mrs Johnstone (Vivienne Carlyle).

Meanwhile his brother Edward is brought up as the only child of the wealthy Lyons family, Mrs Johnstone’s employers who live nearby, after Mrs Lyons (Paula Tappenden) persuaded Mrs Johnstone to hand over one of her twins at birth. Mrs Johnstone couldn’t afford to keep both children, and Mrs Lyons wasn’t able to conceive a child of her own, so the agreement seems beneficial to both at first. That is until Mickey and Edward meet each other at the age of seven years old and immediately become best friends and “blood brothers”.

However, as they get older, the huge difference in their backgrounds pulls them apart, and earlier superstitions prove to be true. Written at a time when huge changes in society and politics were taking place, Blood Brothers is a essentially a story about social class, inequality, superstition and fate.

The cast were superb, with some of them playing their characters from the age of 7 through to adulthood with totally believable portrayals.

Kristofer Harding was never far away as the narrator with a fantastic performance throughout. In fact, I found myself wondering what life would be like if we really all had a narrator telling the story of our lives, which caused a few giggles with my son on the journey home. He’ll be covering this story as part of his GCSE’s so it was great to bring him along to see it.

Vivienne’s performance as Mrs Johnstone was my highlight of the night. Her performance was believable and her voice was note perfect, hitting the powerful chords with ease and singing tenderly when the need arose.

The set designed by Andy Walmsley is superb and lends itself to many different scenarios. Accompanied by Matt Malone and his band, the soundtrack and set design merge beautifully to really set the scene of this truly brilliant tale.

Despite its cultural significance and it’s numerous themes to explore, it’s still a very easy show to watch and you’re hooked from the very first scene. I would recommend it to anyone, especially as an introduction to the world of theatre and the arts.

My Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blood Brothers is playing at the Regent Theatre NOW up until and including Saturday 27th September. Tickets are on sale and are available from the Box Office, by calling 0844 871 7649 or visiting www.atgtickets.com/stoke