"Did you hear the story..." Blood Brothers at Theatre Royal Windsor: A Review
Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers is just over 40 years old and still continues to amaze me. I first saw this musical a decade ago, when I was just 7 years old (the same age as the boys at the beginning of the show) and even then, having very little idea of what the actual story was, I remember being completely captivated. Back then, I understood almost nothing about the historical context of the story, the nuances of each character or the technical marvels of the musical. And yet it dug itself into the deep recesses of my brain and, for the most part, became one of the founding pillars for my love of theatre.
I’ve seen it twice more since then, the latest being just a few days ago, and was lucky enough to see Sean Jones (Mickey) and Joe Sleight (Eddie) for both. I find these two actors fascinating. I have never met more lively, fresh characters and, under the actors’ guidance, the sparkling chemistry between them became such a character itself.
Sean Jones is particularly interesting to me as despite having played Mickey for over 20 years, each line, each movement, spontaneously flowed from within him, clearly channeling Mickey’s own motivations and overwhelming desires. So experienced as he is, to share the stage with him must be a daunting task. But Joe Sleight does a brilliant job at capturing Eddie’s sweet naivety, most notably so when he asks Linda to marry him and it is as if you can actually see his poor heart snapping in two. Gemma Brodrick, playing the precious Linda, also holds her own and provides some charming comic relief in the childhood scenes, as well as a striking showing of the strength and commitment the young woman is forced to possess in the much more depressing later scenes. Other performances to note was the tremendous vocals of Vivienne Carlyle as Mrs Johnstone, who captured the motherly yet sharp qualities of the character but perhaps was not as memorable as the others. Sean Keaney was perfectly enigmatic and omniscient as The Narrator. That opening line - “So did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins?” - in his deep, melancholic voice and Irish accent began the musical with the thrilling, tense atmosphere needed. However, I wasn’t sold on Sarah Jane Buckley’s performance of Mrs Lyons. Whilst the incredibly privileged and slightly neurotic character was clear, the nuances were lost and the performance felt quite passive and dispassionate.
The design was just as striking as the performances. Who’s to say that the mucky yet illusive street of a 1960s Liverpool isn’t one of the most iconic sets in theatre history? Even that one shade of blue, spanning the entire show from gleamingly innocent childhood in a dirty, industrial city to young adulthood in a not-so-idyllic countryside, is enough to practically tell the story itself. And Willy Russell’s vision of “no cumbersome scene changes” is more than brought to life, the flowing scenes reflecting the lilting storytelling mood The Narrator creates.
Overall, this rendition of Willy Russell’s masterpiece is as striking and energetic as it needs to be. Each line more witty or haunting than the last, the messages of uncaring British class and morality weave together to create a musical both of its time and timeless.
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