Blood Brothers return to the Bristol Hippodrome (From Gazette Series)

Blood Brothers return to the Bristol Hippodrome

3:27pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Leisure By Stephen Richards

Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers opened at the Bristol Hippodrome this week; it is based on the lives of two families living in Liverpool in the 1960s and 80s.

The show opens in a very dramatic way showing what eventually will happen to two brothers who live different lives. The audience is taken back and told the story of twin brothers, separated at birth. One brother stays with their mother and grows up in poverty and after being made redundant is forced into crime and ends up in prison. The other brother lives a very different life with his middle class family and university education; he eventually becomes a local councillor.

The boys, Mickey and Eddie, meet by chance as seven year olds and become best friends growing up on the streets of Liverpool. They share their friendship with neighbour and school-friend, Linda.

As adults Mickey and Linda’s relationship grows closer and eventually they marry. When in prison Mickey’s depression causes them to drift apart and Linda looks to Eddie for friendship. This leads to heart-rending confrontation between Mickey and Eddie and a tragic ending, after being told by their mother that they are brothers.

Sean Jones as Mickey played him brilliantly from the age of seven (or nearly eight) to his twenties. There are many comedy moments throughout the show but the funniest moments are when the audience first meets Mickey as a seven-year-old as he rides around the stage on his imaginary horse. Maureen Nolan played the boys’ mother Mrs Johnson and sang many songs throughout the show but her best by far was the final song, Tell Me It’s Not True. Matthew Collyer and Kelly-Anne Gower as Eddie and Linda gave superb portrayals of their characters from their young age through to adulthood. Craig Price as the narrator was menacing throughout the performance as he appeared in the background haunting the characters with their guilt.

Blood Brothers is a musical with a story to tell that is as relevant now as it was when first written nearly 30 years ago. It is thought provoking and very moving, and one you could watch again and again. It runs at the Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday March 3