Blood Brothers at the Alhambra Theatre Bradford Review

Reviewed by Jenny Bray

A classic thought provoking tale about poverty and class divide that’s a great timeless musical.

Blood Brothers is a long running show by Willy Russell that has been in the West End and has also toured all over the UK and lots of other countries for over 30 years.

The Alhambra Theatre is an impressive looking building in the centre of Bradford. It has several car parks nearby. We opted for the Hall Ings NCP car park, which is a short walk away from the theatre, through some water fountains that were lit with multiple colours (we discovered the short route on the way back, having gone on a bit of a detour to find it on the way there!) If you get a ticket from the theatre then you get discounted parking (which took it down from £8 to £4 for our trip). It is a traditional theatre, although the main entrance to the theatre building on the ground floor looks modern. On the ground floor there is a ticket kiosk and a kiosk for purchasing soft drinks and sweets. On the first floor is an impressive bar and a cafe area. All the staff we encountered were very friendly.

The story is of Mrs Johnstone (Lyn Paul), in 1960s Liverpool, who got pregnant young so got married. By 25 she has 7 children and is living on a council estate. She’s in debt and ‘living on the never never’. She has just started a cleaning job for the wealthy Mr and Mrs Lyons when her husband leaves her and she finds out she’s pregnant again. When Mrs Johnstone finds out she is having twins childless Mrs Lyons convinces her to give her one of her twins for her to raise as her own, insisting that she’ll be able to see him every day as she will be working there. She makes her seal the deal by swearing on the bible.

When they are born Mrs Johnstone can’t face giving one away but Mrs Lyons preys on her religion and superstition to enforce the deal. Shortly after taking the child Mrs Lyons sacks Mrs Johnstone as she can’t stand her being around the baby. They grow up on their differing sides of Liverpool. When they are 7, ‘nearly 8’, Mickey (Sean Jones) and Edward (Mark Hutchinson) meet each other for the first time, decide to become friends and then become blood brothers when they realise they share the same birthday. Mickey, Eddie and Linda (Danielle Corlass) hang out together as best friends. Each mother tries to keep them apart but fails until the Lyons move away.

Then the Johnstone’s and their neighbours end up being rehoused from Liverpool to Skelmersdale. Mickey and Eddie meet back up and they and Linda hang out together again until Eddie goes off to University at 18. Mickey and Linda get together and she gets pregnant, so they get married, all while Eddie is in his first semester of University. Mickey is working in a factory but is made redundant and ends up on the dole and losing hope of finding another job. He ends up agreeing to help his wayward brother Sammy (Daniel Taylor) with a dodgy job but he gets caught and sent to prison for it, where he ends up depressed and on pills. When he gets out Linda does what she can to help but ends up having an affair with Eddie. When Mickey finds out he goes to Eddie’s work to confront him. Mrs Johnstone admits to them that they are brothers and Mickey questions why he couldn’t have been the one given away and had the life that Eddie has.

The whole story is expertly narrated by Dean Chisnall, who is almost always somewhere in the scenes, even when not speaking. He had the right stage presence to be slightly haunting yet endearing. I enjoyed his rendition of ‘Shoes upon the table’.

It says something of the cast and the draw of the show when some of the cast members have been a part of the show on several occasions. Lyn Paul has been playing Mrs Johnstone on a regular basis for the last 20 years and has been voted the most definitive Mrs Johnstone in the role. Her performance of ‘Tell me it’s not true’ at the end was flawless. Sean Jones and Mark Hutchinson have both played their roles in the West End version and on previous tours. I think it showed that the cast were really familiar with the show and at ease with it.

The stage was set as rows of houses on each side with other bits of scenery up above the stage that were lowered and raised depending on the scene. These included a graffitied wall for the council estate, wallpapered walls and hangings for Mr and Mrs Lyons house, the Liverpool city view and rolling countryside for when they all move away. I felt the show would have benefitted from having a different wall and city set for once they’ve moved to Skelmersdale as I felt it would have worked better to distinguish that they’d moved away.

I have to admit that this isn’t the first time I have seen Blood Brothers, but it’s one of those musicals that you can see again and again and still be moved by the storyline. In fact, the majority of those sat by us seemed to be veterans that had enjoyed the show on several occasions! Although I’ve seen it before it still feels slightly odd when you first see grown men playing 7-year-old boys, although they dressed as and did all the actions of a child. I love that they all talk and sing in strong Liverpudlian accents throughout. Even though the setting of the story is quite old now, it doesn’t feel dated at all and the class divide and teen angst is ever present and spans the eras.

At times there was too much of an echo on the voices (outside the occasions when there was supposed to be an echo). However, it was well acted and produced and was a very polished performance. The cast received a standing ovation at the end.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £17.50 to £41 (booking fees may apply).

Blood Brothers is at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford from 30 October to 4 November 2017, for more information or to book tickets visit www.bradford-theatres.co.uk or call the box office on 01274 432000.

Alhambra Theatre, Morley Street, Bradford, BD7 1AJ | 01274 432000