In our drama lessons we are doing about working class and middle class, to see the difference between working class and middle class. For us to see the difference between them, we went to watch Blood Brothers. The play is about an tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks one on a middle class family and one on a working class mother with 7 other children, only to meet again with tragic consequences.
In the play there are a lot of characters acting in different roles. The common characters are; Mickey, Edward, Mrs. Johnstone, Mrs. Lyons, Linda and Sammy. Mickey and Edward are the twins but they dont know, Mickey is the working class ladys child and Edward is the middle class familys child. Mickey and Edward are very different from each other, as an example: Mickey is naughty, filthy, dirty, rude and noisy. However, Edward is the opposite Edward is respectful, clean, mannered, quiet and posh. Mrs. Johnstone is the twins real mother but Mickey is the one that stayed with her. Mrs. Johnstone is a stressed and depressed lady, but she still is a very positive person even though shes in a lot of stress. Mrs. Lyons is the middle class lady who got Edward off Mrs. Johnstone to live with Mrs. Lyons. Mrs. Lyons is a much panicked, polite and a stressed person. Theres Linda, Mickeys friend a girl which is very pretty, rude and also likes Mickey. Shes a bit like a boy child because she plays with boys all the time and is better than boys in shooting games. Also theres Sammy Mrs. Johnstones oldest and naughtiest child. He is a very evil person with filthy clothes and a dirty mind. He also loves to bully people around especially Mickey but Mickey always wants to be like Sammy.
In the play adults acted as 10 year old or younger children. They were very funny at times and very cute at some points. Their voices were very thin, squeaky and loud. Their body languages were not so different to their normal heights. They used their normal heights but their clothes showed how young they were because the girls had ponytails with cute hair bands with bright colored clothes. The boys had shorts with sweatshirts and were very dirty with mud all on their legs, arms and faces. Also their facial expressions were the most important part. All of their facial expressions changed from time to time, as an example; when they were happy they all smiled as if their lips were touching their ears. The facial expressions they used were: shocked, sad, angry, stupid and happy. Their acting were very effective because it showed how hard it is to live as a working class child and how easy it is to love as an middle class child. We will be acting as children in our next lesson so it showed us a bit of tips and tack-ticks for us to use in our acting.
The play started in a scene which was not what we expected. The whole play was a flashback. The play started with two men dead on the floor and their families looking at them and crying. There were echoing sounds and the lights went white to red. Flashback is used to show why they were dead on the floor and how they got to that point. I think it was very amusing but depressed way to start the play because it was different to see the ending and watch the play even though you know whats going to happen at the end of the play.
The play had a narrator, which kept coming in and out of the play telling the story but at the same time it gave thoughts to the character but it was hard to see if his thoughts were cruel or mild thoughts. The characters couldnt see him, he was like a ghost, you never knew if he was an evil ghost or a good ghost because it sometimes put thoughts into the characters mind that was hard to understand if it was for a good or a bad reason. The narrator was a very efficient because it made the play more mysterious.
There was a lot of lighting used in the play. The lights changed color to the mood of the scene for example Mrs. Johnstone and her children moved to a better neighborhood and house so the lights go to white and more bright colors, this showed that the scene was a very joyful scene. When the scene was a miserable scene the lights changed color to red, blue and darker colors, this showed how the scene was an uncomfortable scene. In my opinion the lights made the play more understandable for the audience because when the color changed I understood how the next scene will be like. I dont really think it affected me but it did the play more color.
The songs in the play were very nice. There were three songs which were always sung throughout the play they were Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally one Tell me its not true. The Bright New Day was sung on happy scenes like when she had her twin babies. The Marilyn Monroe song was sung when Mrs. Johnstone talks about her teenage times. The Tell me its not true was mostly sung in emotional scenes like when Mrs. Johnstones gives one of the twin baby away to Mrs. Lyons. Singing makes the play more emotional which makes you want to watch more and more.
My favorite scene in the play was when Mickey and Edward died and their mother Mrs. Johnstone put their hands together. I loved that scene because you feel down that they died but you also feel good that they learnt they were twin brothers rather than blood brothers. The effect on the audience was that the audience felt really wretched because of the unhappy ending. I think it was really effective because the music and the lights were very powerful for the scene.
This play has been a great opportunity for me because. I never really understood what middle class and working class were. But with this play I understood a lot of things. I really enjoyed the play because it had all of the emotions for me to feel. I would recommend everyone to watch this play especially people who still do those sort of stuff like selling their babies or children. I hope one day everyone will be able to watch it and see what will happen in future if they sell their babies or children.
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