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A review from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.
Production photos by Jack Merriman Photographer – https://jackmerriman.com/
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This is such a well-known musical I was sure I had seen it before but I cannot find any proof and it certainly was not at all familiar. The storyline is such that it will stick in my head forever.
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The performance starts with two dead bodies laid on the ground and the narrator explaining that they were twins, born on the same day, died on the same day. We then go into the story of their Mum and how all their lives played out in-between these two days. Their Mum was a working class woman whose husband left her when pregnant for the seventh time. She managed to get a job cleaning a posh house, but then found out she was having twins and just was not sure how she would feed all the hungry mouths. The high class lady of the house was desperate for children, but was unable to have any. So they made a pact that she would bring up one of the boys. Although at opposite ends of the social ladder these boys had lives that intermingled as they grew up.
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The set was fairly simple, lower class houses on one side and the posh hoses with a balcony on the other. The backdrop changed depending on where the action was taking place. Scott Anson, the narrator, came and went often singing the missing pieces of the stories between the characters, and moving props as necessary. It was an interesting way of carrying out set changes, he was nearly always on stage, that voiceover watching us as our lives unfold. He had a wonderful voice and a notable stage presence. All the actors were fantastic, Vivienne Carlyle played Mrs Johnstone, the mother of the twin boys. Her voice was utterly out of this world, even when they were all singing you could pick her voice out, leading the way.
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The boys Mickey and Eddie were played by Sean Jones and Joe Sleight. These grown men played the boys from age 7, nearly 8, which was rather comical. Also quite gross when one of them lay on the ground and spat upwards so that it showered him, hopefully there was clever special effects used for that, but it was very realistic!
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An interesting theme that ran through the story was that of superstition, it also is the subject of the song Shoes Upon The Table which is sung several times during the performance. I must admit to being superstitious and so was glad when the shoes were removed from the table, but this was the first time I have seen it portrayed as a concept for the lower classes. Willy Russell, the writer, uses superstition for the posh lady to hold power over the working woman, not something I had considered before – although it will not stop me saluting magpies! In my SCAP creative writing course recently we did an exercise expanding on 6 word stories and I chose one about magpies as I firmly believe that they have some strange power. However our destiny is often what we make it, in line with the Law of Attraction, often if we think about it a lot we somehow make it happen.
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I’m not generally a fan of knowing the end of a story before it starts, but in Blood Brothers you do know that the boys will end up dead. However it is still a shock when it happens, and you do enjoy the journey along the way as their lives roll out. This is an emotional roller coaster which should not be missed. I am disappointed in myself for not having experienced it sooner.
Further information: https://www.bloodbrothersmusical.com/
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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.
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