Plot Summary
One of the most useful things you can do in preparation for the exam is to ‘know’ the plot of Blood Brothers thoroughly. Once you are familiar with key events you can track the development of themes and link the events to larger ideas. An in-depth knowledge and understanding of the play will help you find the most relevant references to support your response.
Overview
Blood Brothers is a two-act musical set in Liverpool, England, written by Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell. The play follows the lives of twin brothers from their birth in the 1960s through to adulthood in the 1980s.
At the play’s outset, we are introduced to Mrs. Johnstone, a working-class woman, who is pregnant, single and struggling. She is persuaded by her employer, Mrs. Lyons, to give her one of her soon-to-be-born twins. One of the twins, Mickey, stays with his mother, Mrs. Johnstone, and grows up in a working-class environment. His twin, Edward, is sent to live with Mr and Mrs Lyons, and grows up in a middle-class family.
The twins fatefully meet again when they are seven years old, and instantly become best friends and blood brothers. Their friendship continues despite many obstacles. Nevertheless, as they reach adulthood their different backgrounds drive them apart, and whether by fate or circumstance, the play ends with their tragic deaths.
Act-By-Act Plot Summary
Act I
- Act I begins with a plea from Mrs Johnstone to the audience that the story about to unfold is not true
- The narrator delivers a prologue foretelling the tragic fate of the Johnstone twins
- The scene shows Mrs Johnstone, alone, pregnant and with seven children, telling audiences that her husband left her for a more glamorous woman
- A montage shows Mrs Johnstone and her five children struggling to pay the milkman (played by the narrator), and her children complaining over a lack of food
- Mrs Lyons, Mrs Johnstone’s new employer, wishes she could have a child of her own to fill their large house as her husband is away for long periods of time
- Mrs Lyons suggests Mrs Johnstone gives her one of the babies; she says she could offer the baby a better life and that the welfare agency is already after Mrs Johnstone
- Mrs Johnstone reluctantly agrees when she is told she can still see the baby while working in the Lyons’ home
- Mrs Lyons makes her swear on the bible to bind the agreement, and the narrator appears, issuing an ominous warning about making deals with the devil
- Soon after, Mrs Lyons grows resentful about Mrs Johnstone’s attention to the baby, named Edward, and she sacks Mrs Johnstone, offering her money to stay away
- Mrs Lyons tells her about a superstition which dooms separated twins to die if they are ever reunited and the narrator delivers another ominous warning
- In the next scene, the audience meets Mickey, seven years old, singing a comedic song about his badly-behaved older brother
- He meets Edward: they become friends and blood brothers, unaware they are twins
- When Mrs Lyons finds out, she forbids Edward from seeing Mickey again
- In defiance of his mother, Edward joins them and ends up in trouble with the police
- Mrs Lyons convinces her husband to move to the country, away from the bad influences
- During Edward’s farewell visit, Mrs Johnstone gives Edward a keepsake: a locket with a photograph of her and Mickey inside it
- In a twist of fate, Mrs Johnstone is offered a council house in Skelmersdale, where Mr and Mrs Lyons now live, and the act ends with a hopeful Mrs Johnstone singing about being anonymous
Act II
- Act II opens with a montage of the last seven years: Mrs Johnstone is happy, paying her bills and has met a man, although one of her sons, Sammy, is getting into trouble with the police
- Mickey and his friend Linda grow closer, and Mickey is suspended from school for being rude
- Edward, too, is suspended from school
- Mrs Lyons questions him about the locket and the narrator appears, reminding audiences that the past can never be ignored
- Mrs Lyons visits Mrs Johnstone and tries to bribe her to stay away from Edward
- A montage shows the sixteen-year-old Mickey, Linda and Edward together, innocent and happy
- Mickey leaves school early to work in a factory, and Edward leaves for university
- Soon after, Mickey tells Mrs Johnstone that Linda is pregnant and they are to be married
- Mickey is made redundant; with the new baby and no work, his mental health begins to deteriorate
- Mickey’s older brother, Sammy, persuades Mickey to help him rob a garage, and seeing a chance to make some money, Mickey agrees
- This leads to his arrest and while in prison, Mickey becomes addicted to pills
- After his early release, Mickey is unable to cure his addiction and his depression so Linda visits Edward, now a councillor, for some help
- Linda and Edward begin an affair, which Mrs Lyons tells Mickey about
- Already mad with jealousy, Mickey takes a gun to the council offices to confront Edward, but Mrs Johnstone follows him and reveals that he and Edward are brothers
- Pointing the gun toward Edward, Mickey shouts that he could have been Edward and he wishes his mother had given him away
- His gun goes off, Edward is killed, and the police open fire and kill Mickey
- The narrator ends the play, by asking audiences whether superstition or the class system is to blame for the tragedy
