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Willy Russell

Willy Russell. Blood Brothers. Introduction to the Play. Blood Brothers Act One Lesson 1: Author and Setting. Willy Russell.

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Willy Russell

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  1. Willy Russell Blood Brothers

  2. Introduction to the Play Blood Brothers Act One Lesson 1: Author and Setting

  3. Willy Russell Willy Russell was born in Liverpool and grew up in a working class family. After leaving school with only one O level, he became a hairdresser and ran his own salon before trying his hand at a variety of jobs, including writing songs which were performed in local folk clubs. He also contributed songs and sketches to local radio programmes. At 20 years old, he returned to college and became a teacher in the Toxteth area of Liverpool and two years later his first play, Blind Scouse, was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival.

  4. Setting Willy Russell never refers to a specific time in Blood Brothers but we can assume that the play begins in the late nineteen fifties and ends in the early eighties. It is significant that the play is also set in Liverpool. At the time the city was predominately working class which meant many families were struggling with unemployment and poverty.

  5. Setting Continued… We KNOW this is when the play is set because events in the play correspond with major social and political happenings of that time. For example, at the end of Act One the Johnston’s are rehoused by the council from Liverpool to Skelmersdale. Such population migration from inner-city slums to New Towns happened across Britain during the 1960s.

  6. Mickey’s unemployment during Act two places later events in the late nineteen seventies or early eighties as factory closures and mass unemployment swept through many British towns at this time. This period in history which is known as the Thatcher era, was an extremely difficult time in history with thousands of families struggling to cope with job cuts. Although Willy Russell wants to entertain the audience he also wants them to think about life in England and in particular Liverpool, during this time. Setting…

  7. Setting… Although Willy Russell wants to entertain the audience he also wants them to think about life in England and in particular Liverpool, during this time.

  8. “ When the mines closed it was more than just losing my job. My dad was a miner and my Grandad before him. They took away all I knew.” (William Melvey 1982) “ I never really thought that it would happen. But it did. having to start from scratch at 56 when I should have been winding down was soul destroying” (Anonymous)

  9. Check your understanding • Do you think that Willy Russell had a good education as a child? Explain your answer. • What social class was Willy Russell brought up in? • What period of history does the play span? • Can you think of any reasons Willy Russell may have for setting the play in Liverpool? • What happened to families living in the inner city slums of Liverpool in the 1950s and 60s?

  10. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers Act One Lesson 2: Social and Historical Context

  11. Blood Brothers Objectives: To learn about the social and historical context of the play.

  12. Liverpool At the turn of the twentieth century (1900) Liverpool was one of the world’s richest cities. Trade with the British Empire flowed through its port and brought with it great economic growth. But as the Empire declined so did the fortunes of the city and by the second half of the century (the setting of Blood Brothers), Liverpool was deep in economic recession. The once bustling docks had fallen derelict and unemployment swept through the city plunging thousands of households into poverty. Crime increased, housing conditions worsened and drug use became widespread.

  13. Poverty At the beginning of the play we learn that the Johnstone family are very poor. In the opening scenes Mrs Johnstone reveals that she is an unemployed single mother and we see her struggling to pay her bills (I start a job next week. I’ll have money comin’ in an’ I’ll be able to pay y’) and provide for her family (‘Ey Mother, I’m starvin’ an’ there’s nothin’ in’). Her children are on ‘free dinners’ and lack discipline. At the beginning of the play Mrs Johnstone does find a cleaning job but her wage is low and barely enough to live on. For the majority of the first act the Johnstones live in what would be a cramped ‘back to back’ terraced house in Liverpool’s inner city slums.

  14. Social and Historical Context Blood Brothers is set in… The city was once… But as the British Empire crumbled… The decline of the city brought hardships such as… The Johnstone family are… They live in… Life is difficult because… Can you complete the following sentences?

  15. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers 3 Introducing Mrs Johnstone

  16. Mrs Johnstone Objectives: To understand how Willy Russell creates characters through dialogue and action.

  17. Characterisation:Blood Brothers Mrs Johnstone Read the opening scenes of Blood Brothers. What is your first impression of Mrs Johnstone? Consider the stage directions, Mrs Johnstone’s actions and gestures and the dialogue she uses.

  18. Mrs Johnstone What are your first impressions of Mrs Johnstone? Look at the list of words below. Find five words that best describe Mrs. Johnstone. Loving ruthless rich gullible brave happy heartless caring superstitious manipulative selfish struggling

  19. Mrs Johnstone Look at the things Mrs Johnstone says and does in the opening scenes. What is revealed about her?

  20. Write it up Your work so far about Mrs Johnstone will describe aspects of her personality. Where did those ideas come from? Playwrights create characters through stage directions, dialogue and actionbut do you know exactly what these things are? 12th October 09 Mrs Johnstone My first impression of Mrs Johnstone is that she is… Write a paragraph explaining the word choices you made.

  21. Sentence Starters To help you write about Mrs. Johnstone you could use some of the sentence starters below: 12th October 09 Mrs Johnstone The first thing we notice about Mrs Johnstone is... Her conversation with the milkman suggests that… The way she speaks shows that… The lines spoken by her children tell us…

  22. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers 4 Mrs Lyons

  23. Mrs Lyons Objectives: To learn how Willy Russell introduces the character of Mrs Lyons to the audience

  24. Characterisation: Mrs Lyons Read the next few scenes of Blood Brothers. What are your first impressions of Mrs Lyons? Consider the stage directions, the character’s actions, interactions and dialogue.

  25. Mrs Lyons What are your first impressions of Mrs Lyons? Jot down words or phrases to describe her.

  26. Mrs Lyons Read the opening scenes of Blood Brothers and this time pay close attention to the character of Mrs Lyons.

  27. Blood Brothers Blood Brothers 5 Contrasting Characters

  28. Contrasting Characters Objectives: To learn how Willy Russell contrasts the character of Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone

  29. Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are contrasting characters. How many examples of contrasts can you find?

  30. Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons Below are some ideas that show how the characters contrast.

  31. Consolidation Willy Russell uses 3 main techniques to create characters. Stage Directions Dialogue Action Look out for these techniques as we are introduced to new characters in the play.

  32. Mrs Johnstone & Mrs Lyons Using your knowledge of the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyonswrite a paragraph explaining how Russell presents the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons to the audience. You could use some of the sentence starters on the next slide to get you up and running. 12th October 09 Mrs Johnstone & Mrs Lyons Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are very different…

  33. Contrasting Characters What have you learned already about Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons? Below are a few sentence starters to help with your paragraph: 12th September 09 Mrs Johnstone & Mrs Lyons The first difference we notice about Mrs Johnstone is... Mrs Johnstone is…whilst Mrs Lyons… The way they speak conveys to the audience that… The way they act towards one another gives us an insight into their relationship…

  34. Character as Archetype The fact that Mrs Johnstone doesn’t have a first name suggests that she is less an individual and more defined by her status in society. Mrs Johnstone has a very low social status. She is a working class, single mother with a large number of children which she struggles to control. As such she represents a social group that is often much maligned by society, the single parent, living on benefits with a large number of children. At the beginning of the play the Narrator describes Mrs Johnstone as having ‘a stone in place of her heart’ representing the attitude towards single parents by some sections of society. Yet the Narrator suggests that the audience should ‘judge for yourselves’ and Mrs Johnstone is presented to the audience, according to the stage directions, ‘aged thirty but looks more like fifty’. The reason for her premature aging is revealed in her opening song ‘we went dancing’ in which she describes the story of her life so far. In contrast to her current appearance we learn that once she was young, happy and ‘sexier than Marilyn Monroe’. She met her future husband at a dance, became pregnant, got married and three months later had her first child, Darren Wayne. Three months later she was pregnant again and by the age of twenty five when she had seven children and another on the way her husband left her for a younger woman. We see at the start that Mrs Johnstone is struggling. She cannot pay the milkman and her children complain of being underfed yet she appears optimistic, believing that the cleaning job she is due to start will give them enough money to ‘live like kings’.

  35. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers 6 Point, Evidence, Explain

  36. Point, Evidence, Explain Objectives: To learn how to use P.E.E. when writing about a drama text.

  37. Writing about texts When writing about texts use the P.E.E formula. Make a point, find some evidence and then explain the evidence in detail. P Point E Evidence E Explain

  38. Don’t forget to explain yourself Use the information from your tables to write about either Mrs Johnstone or Mrs Lyons. Do not forget to use the P.E.E structure in your writing. For example Point Mrs Johnstone struggles to care for her large family: “Ey Mother, I’m starvin’ an’ there’s nothin’ in. There never bloody well is.” Here we see that Mrs Johnstone finds it hard to provide for her large family as her children are hungry. The use of the word ‘bloody’ by Kid Three suggests that the children are not well behaved and swear at Mrs Johnstone, emphasising the sense of her struggling to cope. Evidence Explain

  39. Plenary Read out your work to the rest of the group. Discuss how you described your character using the P.E.E format.

  40. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers 7 Social Class

  41. Social Class Objectives: • To develop knowledge and understanding of the theme of social class in Blood Brothers

  42. Class What do we mean by the word class? Think of as many uses of the word class as you can in 2 minutes. First class Working Class Class Second Class Class of students Blood Brothers explores Social Class which is the structure of divisions in a society determined by the social or economic grouping of its members.

  43. Themes – Social Class Class is central to the story and a theme that exists throughout the play. In Blood Brothers Willy Russell explores how class affects people’s lives. To do this he uses the Johnstone family and the Lyons family to represent the working classes and the middle classes. The Johnstone family is working class. Mrs Johnstone has rushed into an early marriage due to pregnancy. She is poorly educated and very superstitious. Her house is a rented terraced home in a poor neighbourhood which she struggles to pay for. Conditions are basic and cramped. Mrs Johnstone’s limited education means that the work she can do is restricted to poorly-paid jobs and her horizons are limited. She is delighted when she is re-housed in Skelmersdale in a newly built council house.

  44. Many of the slum houses in big cities were demolished at this time and ‘new towns’ made up of council houses were built to replace them. By contrast, Mrs Lyons belongs to the wealthier middle class. She is a housewife with no need to work as her husband can provide comfortably for the family. She lives in a large house, employs a cleaner and enjoys a leisurely lifestyle. Edward is brought up surrounded by books, expected to succeed in life and attends a public school. He will go to university, marry well and take up a prestigious and well-paid profession.

  45. Class This table will help you keep track of the theme of class in the play. Copy it then complete it as you read through the book.

  46. Teacher-of-English.com Blood Brothers 8 Living on the never never

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