Blood Brothers

Willy Russell's musical play about twins separated at birth, one raised rich and one poor. Class as fate.

What it is

A play with music, first staged in 1983, in which Mrs Johnstone gives one of her twins to her wealthy employer, and the two boys grow up separately, meet, and die.

Commonly set as the modern text.

Where it applies

English Literature, essay question, closed book.

How it works

The Narrator tells you the ending at the start, so the play runs on inevitability rather than surprise — the same device as Romeo and Juliet, and the play invokes it directly.

Its argument is that class, not character, decides the outcome. The twins are genetically identical, which strips away every explanation except circumstance. Mickey's decline and Edward's rise happen despite, not because of, who they are.

Superstition is the play's alternative explanation, and it is offered so the audience can reject it: the "devil" the Narrator keeps naming is really the economics of 1980s Liverpool.

How to use it in your work

Write about structure and the Narrator. Why does a play tell you the ending first? Because it wants you watching the machinery, not the outcome.

Contrast the two mothers rather than only the two boys. Mrs Lyons is as trapped as Mrs Johnstone in a different way.

Use the songs — they are dialogue, and repeated lyrics function as a motif.

Where to get help

Your teacher, first — set texts vary by board and by school, and yours is the one that counts. Your board's past papers and examiners' reports are free online and say plainly what separates the bands.