Another year’s Senior Production has come and gone, but what a production it was! From the well-considered accents to the amazingly designed set, Blood Brothers was certainly a triumph! (To those who have not seen Blood Brothers, either on the stage or here at Shiplake, this article will contain spoilers.)
The play opened with a musical number, performed fabulously by Emily Booth who played Mrs Johnstone, mother of Eddie and Mickey. Emily did a fantastic job of setting the scene of the rest of the play, by singing confidently, clearly and by making great use of the stage. Charlie Thomas and Will Mandondo narrated the play, along with Casper Good who also stepped in to the role of Young Mickey at 5-hours’ notice, due to Kai O’Hare taking ill.
Following the introductory song, the play opened with Mrs Johnstone discovering she is pregnant with twins. Her employer, the sour-faced Mrs Lyons, offers to take one of the children off her hands. Mia Jobson, playing Mrs Lyons, portrayed the character tremendously, ensuring she was just as prudish and pompous as could be.
After handing Eddie over to Mrs Lyons, we learn that Mrs Johnstone is very attached to Eddie, the son she gave to Mrs Lyons to ensure he had a good life. Because of this, Mrs Johnstone is fired, with a large sum of money to keep her quiet.
We see that the twins, along with Mrs Johnstone’s other children, are growing up. Young Mickey, played by Kai O’Hare in the first performance and by Casper Good in the second and third, is out playing when he meets a well-dressed, well-behaved and well-to do boy, played eagerly by Tom Wilkinson. The two get chatting and the difference in their upbringing becomes more and more apparent. The boys’ similarities are also recognised, including their shared birthdays. Upon learning this, the boys decide to become Blood Brothers. They each cut their hand and shake them, blood and all! The scene ends.
Emily Booth’s Mrs Johnstone then meets young Eddie, a character, it seems, that Tom Wilkinson was born to play. She immediately knows his true identity; her own son who she gave away. We also meet Dom Deakin’s Sammy, Mrs Johnstone’s eldest son, who gives Eddie a hard time about being well-behaved and sensible. When Mrs Johnstone tells Micky and Sammy to go away, she has a quiet word with her estranged son, who doesn’t know about his identity. She tells him, as has Mrs Lyons, not to come playing near her sons again.
The next scene opens with Mia Jobson and Tom Wilkinson as mother and son. She soon learns that he has learned a few choice swear words. When she discovers who he learned them from, she fears he has discovered his true family. She speaks to an offstage Mr Lyons, and pleads with him to let them move house, away from the truth. She also mentions needing to see a doctor, as she clearly isn’t herself. Hiding the truth from her son has taken its toll on her mental health to the point of excruciating paranoia.
We next see Tom, Casper and Ruby Seimon as Eddie, Micky and Linda; they are all playing and get themselves into trouble. When the police arrive, played by Charlie Bradshaw and India Christie-Miller, they apprehend the two boys and take them to their respective homes. The police are particularly harsh with Micky, whose family have apparently also been in trouble, but are perhaps too forgiving with Mrs Lyons and her son.
Soon after, we see a particularly warm moment between Emily and Tom; it is perhaps the first opportunity Mrs Johnstone has had to speak to her estranged son. She asks about Mrs Lyons and how well she looks after him, before Eddie says he doesn’t want to move house, and would prefer to stay with her. At this point, she sends him in to the house, so that he can say goodbye to Micky before he moves house.
After a brief snapshot of Eddie and Mrs Lyons in their new home, an exceptionally well-directed scene, showing Tom Wilkinson and Casper Good swapping places with Michael Scanlon and Ben Atkin, respectively, to indicate the passing of about 10 years.
After the interval, the story really heated up; Eddie and Micky, now young adults, are leading very different, very separate lives. We see that Mrs Johnstone and Micky have moved to a house, coincidentally, near to Mrs Lyons and Eddie. Eddie is preparing to go to university, while Micky and Linda are still friends; though Linda clearly wants to be ‘more than friends’ and Micky is naively clueless! Ben Atkin and Katie Mannings, as current day Linda, do a fantastic job of portraying the painful awkwardness of teenagehood and Ben’s Scouse accent was very convincing!
Eddie and Micky, who are now neighbours, bump into each other during a particularly comedic monologue about the difficulties of being a teenager, by Ben Atkin. Eddie doesn’t recognise Micky, but Micky does, and reintroduces his nearly-grown-up self. The Blood Brothers get to know each other again, before Mrs Lyons enters the scene. She is frantic and paranoid and says that Micky and his mother are following them and trying to kill them.
We soon see that Eddie, Micky and Linda have become just as close as they were as children. We also learn that Eddie may be just as interested in Linda as Micky is. However, Micky gets the girl and Eddie goes off to university.
Eddie returns from university after three months; we find that Micky is struggling to make ends meet while Eddie is enjoying a new life at university. Ben did a fantastic job portraying Micky’s frustration and bitterness about working as hard as he can, but not achieving anything. Micky bumps into Linda, and professes his love for her. She tells him that she and Eddie are married now, but Eddie still wants to help the pair, so gives her some money to pass on to him.
The next scene is of Linda struggling to find housing for herself and Micky. We find out that Eddie is now chairman of the Housing Association, so he helps Linda to find somewhere to live, while also arranging a date with her, knowing she is married to the clueless Micky.
Micky finds out about Eddie and Linda’s dates, and she explains that Eddie helped them find somewhere to live, among other helpful gestures. Micky then vows to kill Eddie and goes out in hunt of a gun. He is given one by his older brother, and goes looking for Eddie. He finds him in his office and threatens him with the gun. In a very tense final five-minutes, the two brothers, who are still unaware of their biological brotherhood, come to a final face off. Both Ben and Michael did a fantastic job of portraying the desperation of the situation before Emily, as Mrs Johnstone, comes in and spills the secret that Eddie and Micky are twin brothers.
Mrs Lyons then enters after hearing Mrs Johnstone’s confession and attempts to shoot Mrs Johnstone. Micky stands in the way of the bullet, and is shot dead before the same happens to her own son, Eddie. Will, Charlie and Casper then closed the show with a final short monologue.
The play was utterly phenomenal and was so well performed by everyone involved. Ben Atkin receives special mention for his brilliant Scouse accent, while Michael Scanlon’s portrayal of the well-to-do brother was utterly captivating. Emily Booth and Mia Jobson also did a fantastic job, and managed to show the development of their characters wonderfully. Emily’s song at the beginning of the production set the tone of the play really well also. The star of the show was undoubtedly Casper Good, who was originally cast as a narrator. However, following Kai O’Hare falling ill, he also played the role of young Micky. He managed to learn all of the lines in just five hours, and performed them fantastically!
Mrs Hine, Mr Miller and Ms Davies have done a fantastic job in directing the play and Miss Hine did a fantastic job in designing the costumes and make-up, and also keeping the cast on-task during rehearsals and the performances. Thanks also to Nicola Sutherland for the wonderful set design; and to the technical team- Freddie Westbrook-Burr, Lucas Batty, Fenn Hewitt, Eve Dowden and Matthew Greenham. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Tithe Barn Theatre in the New Year for the Junior Production of We Will Rock You!
