Blood Brothers
By
Willy Russell
Revision Notes
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1 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
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2 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Table of Contents
Context ................................................................................................................................... 4
Willy Russell ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Social context ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Political context ................................................................................................................................. 5
Margaret Thatcher .......................................................................................................................... 5
Cultural context ................................................................................................................................. 5
Marilyn Monroe .............................................................................................................................. 5
Pop culture ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Summary ................................................................................................................................ 6
Act 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Mrs Johnstone................................................................................................................................. 6
Mrs Lyons ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Twins ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Mickey and Edward......................................................................................................................... 7
Linda ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Act 2 ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Mickey, Edward and Linda as teenagers ......................................................................................... 7
Characters............................................................................................................................... 9
Mrs Johnstone ................................................................................................................................. 10
Mrs Lyons ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Mickey .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Edward ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Linda................................................................................................................................................. 11
Sammy ............................................................................................................................................. 11
Mr Lyons .......................................................................................................................................... 11
The narrator ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Policeman, Milkman, Judge, Teachers ............................................................................................. 11
Language .............................................................................................................................. 12
Important quotations analysed ....................................................................................................... 12
Themes ................................................................................................................................. 12
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Context
Willy Russell
Russell was born in 1947 into a working-class family near to Liverpool. He left school at 15
without academic qualifications and became a hairdresser. By the age of 20 he felt the need
to return to education and, after leaving university, he became a teacher at a
comprehensive school in his home city.
During this time Russell wrote songs for performers and for radio shows. One of his early
plays was about the Liverpool pop group the Beatles. He has a love of popular music and
this can be seen in many of his plays, but especially in Blood Brothers.
Social context
Blood Brothers was completed in 1981, two years after the Conservative party leader
Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. She felt that British manufacturing industry had
become uncompetitive and saw the cause as weak employers and overly strong trades
unions who were, she felt, only too willing to call their members out on strike. She reduced
the powers of the workers’ unions and privatised (‘sold off’) many publicly owned
companies. She closed many uncompetitive coal mines, too.
Political context
Margaret Thatcher
One of Thatcher’s central political beliefs was that success came to those who chose to work
hard. In Blood Brothers, Russell contradicts this view. He shows a divided society by having
Mickey and Edward attend very different schools and live in different houses.
That money and influential connections are necessary to become successful is written into
the play. Mickey's failure, despite his good character and hard work, is the basis of the
tragedy in the drama.
Cultural context
Marilyn Monroe
Monroe was a very famous Hollywood actress. Her image was well known even to people
who did not watch her films. She was presented by the media as a kind of ‘perfect’ fantasy
woman and she was shown to live a glamorous and carefree lifestyle. The reality was often
very different. She needed anti-depressants and eventually died from an overdose of pills.
Pop culture
In the 1950s society went through massive changes. As a result of young people gradually
having more money, popular culture (music, TV and film) flourished, becoming accessible to
a much wider public. Even the poorest in society, people represented in the play by the
fictional Johnstone family, would have had the chance to go to the cinema or to a club for
dancing.
5 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Summary
The story Blood Brothers covers the lives of twins Mickey and Edward. The play is divided
into two acts, and has many songs. A narrator speaks to the audience at the beginning and
throughout the play, commenting on the action and setting the scene.
Act 1
The play begins with the deaths of two men. The narrator tells us that they were twins, but
were separated and never knew that they shared the same surname: Johnstone. As the
lights go down, Mrs Johnstone, their mother, enters and the narrator asks us to judge her
story.
Mrs Johnstone
Mrs Johnstone sings of how she fell in love while dancing, but that her husband left her
because she no longer looked like Marilyn Monroe. She has seven children despite being
only 25, but the audience are told that she looks much older; and she is pregnant again.
Mrs Johnstone can’t afford even the basics of life - her kids complain about being hungry.
But she thinks she’ll be able to get by when she starts her new job, cleaning for a couple
called Mr and Mrs Lyons.
Mrs Lyons
The Lyons are well off and live in a large house. Mrs Lyons explains that she is lonely. Her
husband is away working for nine months and they have no children of their own – a strong
contrast to the Johnstone family.
Twins
Mrs Johnstone finds out that she is expecting twins. This will mean the Social Services, the
‘Welfare’, will put even more pressure on her to put some of her children into care. She tells
Mrs Lyons, who offers to bring up one of the twins as her own child, saying that she can give
him a good home. Mrs Johnstone, in awe of the Lyons’ wealth and the possibility of a
comfortable upbringing for at least one of her children, eventually agrees.
They make a vow of silence and swear over the Bible. Not even Mr Lyons will know.
Mrs Johnstone gives birth to the twins. Mrs Lyons arrives and, after reminding Mrs
Johnstone of their pact, takes one of the twins.
Mrs Johnstone still works at Mrs Lyons’ house, but Mrs Lyons feels uncomfortable, thinking
that Mrs Johnstone is becoming too attached to the twin she has given away. Mrs Lyons
tries to pay Mrs Johnstone to leave. Mrs Johnstone threatens to tell the police about the
baby, but Mrs Lyons terrifies her with a superstitious omen: she claims that if either twin
learns of his brother, both will die. Mrs Johnstone leaves and stops working at the Lyon’s
house.
6 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Mickey and Edward
Seven years pass. Mickey is the twin that stayed with Mrs Johnstone. He has been playing a
favourite childhood game of the time, ‘Cowboys and Indians’ near the ‘big’ houses. Mrs
Johnstone tells him off because he is not allowed to play there. Edward Lyons, the other
twin, has seen Mickey playing and comes to find him. This is the first time in the play that
they speak to each other. Edward offers Mickey lots of sweets and they become friendly.
They learn that their birthdays are identical and decide to become ‘blood brothers’. They
nick their hands with Mickey’s penknife and clasp hands. Mickey says “See, this means that
we’re blood brothers, an’ that we always have to stand by each other.”
Mrs Johnstone comes out and asks Edward his name. When she realises who he is, she
orders Mickey into the house and tells Edward never to come back again.
Later Mickey sneaks to the Lyons’ house to calls for Edward. Mrs Lyons quickly realises who
he is and takes Edward away. She tells Edward not to mix with ‘boys like that’.
Linda
Mickey, Sammy and others are pretending to have a shootout. Mickey says the ‘F-word’ and
the others laugh at him, saying he’ll die and go to hell as a result. A girl called Linda, protects
Mickey and tells the others to leave him alone. Linda and Mickey go to Edward’s house and
convince him to sneak out and play with them.
Influenced by the Johnstone’s kids’ behaviour and games Edward is about to throw stones
through some windows, but is seen by a policeman. The policeman visits Mrs Johnstone and
warns her harshly that any more trouble from her children will mean a court visit. In
contrast, he then visits Mrs Lyons but chooses to explain away the trouble as merely a
childish ‘prank’. He asks her to make sure Edward ‘keeps with his own kind’.
Mrs Lyons’ knows that Edward will be drawn into friendship with Mickey and she is afraid of
the consequences. After the incident with the police, Mr Lyons agrees to move the family to
a different house, away in the country.
Soon afterwards Mrs Johnstone receives a letter from the council to say that her family is
also being re-housed to a nicer area. She is thrilled and dances and sings at her good
fortune.
Act 2
Mickey, Edward and Linda as teenagers
The story jumps forward another seven years. By coincidence both families moved to the
same area, and the twins live near to each other, although they do not know this.
Mrs Johnstone has settled happily into her new home, although Sammy has been put on
probation for causing a fire at his school. Mickey is now an awkward fourteen-year-old at
the local comprehensive school. Meanwhile Edward is at an all-boys private boarding
school.
7 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Mickey is on the school bus with Linda when Sammy joins them. Sammy tries to get a cheap
ticket reserved only for schoolchildren, but the conductor refuses. Sammy pulls out a knife
and threatens the conductor, before running off, chased by policemen. Linda tells Mickey
she loves him, but only if he doesn’t become a criminal like his brother.
Mickey and Linda go up a high hill, where they see a young man looking out of his window.
Linda says the young man is ‘gorgeous’, but Mickey doesn’t like her saying so. Linda leaves
in a huff and the young man approaches. It is Edward.
Edward and Mickey look at each other as they get nearer and we hear them both wish that
they looked more like the other. Mickey confides to Edward that he doesn’t know how to
tell Linda he loves her. Edward recommends they go to see sex films at the cinema to ‘see
how it’s done’.
Mrs Lyons turns up in Mrs Johnstone’s kitchen. She wants to know why Mrs Johnstone has
decided to ‘follow’ her. She offers a large sum of money to bribe Mrs Johnstone to move
away, but Mrs Johnstone rejects this, saying that she has made a better life for herself in her
new home. Dramatically paralleling Sammy’s violence with a knife, Mrs Lyons grabs a
kitchen knife and tries to stab Mrs Johnstone, but Mrs Johnstone dodges it. Mrs Lyons exits
cursing.
We see Edward and Mickey leave the cinema with Edward thrilled by what he has seen. He
is shown as clearly enjoying the escape from the restraints both of his home and his school.
We fast forward and see Mickey, Edward and Linda become close friends as they grow up
year by year – the narrator tells us that they are now eighteen.
Edward and Linda meet. He tells her he is sad as he is leaving for university the next day and
wonders if he can write her letters, despite Mickey being in love with her. Linda reveals that
Mickey still hasn’t asked her to be a proper girlfriend. Edward sings lovingly that if he were
Mickey he would have asked a long time ago.
Mickey arrives and Edward urges him to declare his love for Linda. At last Mickey asks Linda
out and kisses her. Linda and Mickey want Edward to come out with them to a club, but
Edward declines and seems dejected.
The scene opens on the Johnstone’s house. Mickey tells his mother that Linda is pregnant
and they are marrying in a month. On the wedding day Mickey loses his job. Mr Lyons, who
happens to be the managing director of the factory where Mickey works, explains that due
to the ‘global slump’ his services are no longer required.
Edward comes back from university for Christmas, well dressed and happy. He has been
partying and has met many new friends. Mickey doesn’t share his happiness and explains
that he has been out of work for three months. Edward doesn’t see the problem of living life
‘on the dole’ but Mickey feels that he just cannot begin to understand. Mickey explains that
he has had to grow up and become an adult, while Edward can happily still play around like
a kid. He feels they no longer have anything in common and he tells Edward to ‘beat it’.
Edward leaves and bumps into Linda, and at the same time, Mickey runs into Sammy. As
Sammy convinces Mickey to be a look-out for his gang, Edward tries to convince Linda to
marry him, not knowing about her wedding or pregnancy.
8 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Sammy breaks into a petrol station while Mickey keeps look-out. Sammy has trouble getting
money from the man at the garage and an alarm bell goes off. A shot rings out. Sammy has
killed the filling-station assistant. They run to their house and Sammy hides the gun, but
both are arrested.
Mickey is found guilty and sent to prison for seven years. Whilst there he becomes clinically
depressed and is prescribed anti-depressants. Released from prison early for good
behaviour, he has been reduced to a shadow of his former self and is addicted to the
tablets.
Linda has found Mickey a job, but she won’t reveal to Mrs Johnstone who has arranged it
for him. They have moved into their own home now, but Mickey is still addicted to his antidepressants. Linda desperately tries to convince him that they have sorted their lives out
and he doesn’t need the pills. But Mickey is angry and answers back that he knows who
really sorted their lives out and gave him the job. It was Edward, now grown up and known
as Councillor Eddie Lyons.
The scene changes to show Edward meeting Linda and kissing her. Mickey is shown hard at
work, trying desperately to avoid taking his tablets. Mrs Lyons enters and tells him that
Edward and Linda are seeing each other. He becomes frenzied, rushes home and takes a gun
that Sammy had hidden under the floorboards. Mickey charges into town to look for
Edward. Mrs Johnstone tells Linda that Mickey has a gun and she realises that he is after
Edward at the Town Hall.
Edward is a successful councillor giving a speech at a town hall meeting. There is a
commotion amongst the audience and Mickey approaches the stage pointing his gun at
Edward. He blames Edward for taking Linda from him and even accuses him of fathering
Linda’s child. We know this is not true, and it is a sign of Mickey's depression and desperate
state of mind.
Mrs Johnstone enters the hall and approaches Mickey, begging him not to shoot. She
decides to reveal to him that Edward is actually his twin brother and that he was given away
to Mrs Lyons. The police arrive. Mickey screams in anger at his mother, asking why she
couldn’t have given him away, instead. Waving his gun in a frenzy at Edward, it accidentally
goes off and Edward is killed. Mickey shouts ‘No!’ at a waiting policemen, but the police
shoot him. He dies.
The play ends with Mrs Johnstone lamenting what has happened. The narrator states the
key theme of the play. He says:
And do we blame superstition for what came to pass?
Or could it be what we, the English, have come to know as class?
Characters
9 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Mrs Johnstone



She is 25 years old at the start of the play and has already had seven children. This
suggests that she has a naturally maternal character, embracing new life and being a
caring person. Russell might also be hinting at religious rulings against contraception.
Often she makes rash decisions on impulse rather than thinking carefully over the
consequences of her actions. For example, she buys lots of items from a catalogue
on credit despite knowing she probably won’t be able to pay for them later.
She has a strong, generous character knowing almost instinctively what’s right and
wrong, although her circumstances make it hard for her to be a straightforwardly
‘good’ person. She refuses Mrs Lyons’ attempts to bribe her showing that she values
people above money, yet she does agree under extreme pressure to give Mrs Lyons
one of her children. This is suggested to be largely unselfish because she is shown
only to have concern for the child, foreseeing a more comfortable life for him.
Mrs Lyons



She is presented by Russell as a lonely housewife, with a cold character who finds it
difficult to be affectionate towards others. This may be her natural personality, but
circumstances certainly haven’t helped: she and her husband are unable to have
children naturally and her husband spends long periods at work away from home.
She is wealthy, but dependent upon her successful businessman husband’s income.
She doesn’t work or do the housework. She hires Mrs Johnstone to do the cleaning
for her, while she shops for expensive things. Russell creates this character as an
inconsiderate, pampered but dependent individual.
She is a self-centred character who uses others for her own gain. Once Mrs
Johnstone has handed over Edward, she no longer needs her and cruelly discards
her, manipulating her through preying on her uneducated and superstitious mind.
Mickey



He is created by Russell to be a friendly, excitable boy in Act One. He likes to play
adventure games with others and sneak off to pull pranks.
He looks up to his older brother Sammy and often feels like a cast-off in comparison
to him. He feels the need to impress Sammy and finds it hard to say no to him. Later
in the play this will influence him into helping in Sammy’s crime.
He is very shy about his emotions and takes years to ask Linda out even on a date.
He finds it hard to tell Linda that he loves her. He tries to prove himself to her
through working hard but becomes even more withdrawn after becoming
unemployed.
Edward


Edward is presented by Russell as a friendly, generous character. He searches out
Mickey to play with and perhaps naively offers him sweets in an attempt to impress
him. He joins in with Mickey and Linda’s games and unselfishly tries to get Mickey to
express his love for Linda.
He is raised in a middle-class home and is educated at a private school. He feels
restricted and this is one of the reasons he likes the company of Mickey. He revels in
Mickey’s liveliness, bad language and risky games.
10 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
Linda


She is presented by Russell as naturally kind and compassionate character. She
comes to Mickey’s aid both when he is suspended from school and when he is
mocked by the other children.
She is quite feisty and humorous, joining Edward and Mickey in their games and
often leading the way. For example, she plays a trick on a policeman so that the
three of them can run away.
Sammy



He is an aggressive and threatening kind of character who the audience would
recognise. From the start of the play he is shown to enjoy making fun of others,
especially Mickey.
He is presented as anti-social and criminal, threatening a bus conductor with a knife
and killing a filling station worker.
He has no outlet for his hostile tendencies, he has no job or money.
Mr Lyons



He is presented as a wealthy businessman who spends long periods of time away
from his family. He becomes the managing director of the factory where Mickey
worked before Mickey was made redundant.
He is a distant figure to his wife and son, preferring not to get involved in their
affairs. Instead he provides money and homes in wealthy areas as well as expensive
schooling for Edward.
He seems indifferent to the people whose lives he can directly affect - his workforce.
He sends Mickey a heartless redundancy letter.
The narrator


Russell creates a ‘character’ of the narrator, who acts a little like the Greek ‘Chorus’
from ancient tragedy whose role is to explain some of the key action on stage. The
narrator also involves the audience by asking them directly to judge what they see.
He helps to make sure that the audience stay a little ‘detached’ from the events of
the play. He also helps them remember that this is a ‘story’.
He reveals that the brothers die at the very start of the play and from then on
constantly reminds the audience of the twins’ fate. He presents the themes of fate,
destiny and superstition throughout the play, but at the end he asks the audience to
consider if it was social forces rather than 'fate' that caused the tragedy.
Policeman, Milkman, Judge, Teachers




These minor characters are created for various dramatic purposes. They either lack
sympathy or are unfair and two-faced when dealing with others. They represent
social institutions, which Russell seems to suggest are prejudiced.
The policeman is friendly at the wealthy Lyons’ house, but in contrast is harsh when
dealing with the Johnstones.
The milkman won’t listen to Mrs Johnstone’s valid excuses initially, but once she has
some money at her new home he is pleasant and flirts with her.
The judge gives Sammy a lighter sentence than would have normally have been
handed out, but this is only because he is attracted to Mrs Johnstone’s appearance.
11 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.

Edward’s schoolteacher is petty and takes the side of Edward’s bullying classmates.
Mickey is certainly awkward and disrespectful to his teacher, but he and Linda are
suspended for minor things. The teacher does not bother to answer Mickey’s
questions, even though they seem quite justified.
Language
Important quotations analysed
“Did you never hear how the Johnstones died” – narrator in the opening scene. It
establishes the play as having some features of a tragedy and gives an air of inevitability to
the outcome that hangs over the narrative, creating foreboding.
“The mother, so cruel, there’s a stone in place of her heart” – narrator before we meet Mrs
Johnstone. We are invited to judge her and dislike her, so that her likeable persona is a
surprise. It raises the question of moral dilemma: it’s not always easy to distinguish good
from evil.
“He told me I was sexier than Marilyn Monroe” – female sexuality/vulnerability. (Remember
that MM is a motif used throughout the play).
“By the time I was twenty-five, I looked like forty-two” – Mrs J. has had a hard life.
“I’m up to here with hard luck stories” – (Milkman) – the area is one of poverty and society
is uncaring about their difficulties.
“During the dance, she acquires a brush, dusters and a mop” – stage directions and props
used to show Mrs J’s role as Mrs L’s cleaner.
Themes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Social class
The individual and society
Nature vs. Nurture
Fate, bad luck and destiny
Friendship
Education
Growing up
Men and women
Money
12 Blood Brothers – GCSE Revision Notes – Quick Notes – English Literature.
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