Blood Brothers Summary
Blood Brothers by Willy Russell is a 1983 musical about Mickey and Edward, a pair of twins who are separated at birth and raised at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.
- Mrs. Johnstone is a poor single mother preparing to give birth to twins. Her employer, Mrs. Lyons, adopts one of the twins.
- Despite Mrs. Lyons's efforts to keep them apart, twins Mickey and Edward become close friends in childhood and adolescence.
- In young adulthood, Edward goes off to college while Mickey faces unemployment and imminent fatherhood.
- Mickey commits a crime and goes to prison. Upon returning, his final reunion with Edward proves tragic.
Summary
Blood Brothers (1983), by British playwright Willy Russell, is a musical that follows the fates of Edward and Mickey Johnstone, twins separated soon after birth. The story begins shortly before they are born. At thirty, Mrs. Johnstone is pregnant and already the mother of five children, when she is abandoned by her husband. Forced into penury, Mrs. Johnstone struggles to provide for her children. A housekeeping job with a wealthy family, the Lyons, promises to lift Mrs. Johnstone out of her misery.
Unable to have biological children, Mrs. Lyons yearns to adopt a child, but her husband is against the idea. When Mrs. Johnstone learns that she is carrying not one but two babies, Mrs. Lyons proposes a solution which she believes will solve both the women’s problems. She suggests that Mrs. Johnstone give her one of the twins. Since her husband is out of town for months on work, Mrs. Lyons can easily pretend that she gave birth to a child while he was away. To give at least one of her children the hope of a better life, Mrs. Johnstone reluctantly agrees, swearing her commitment to Mrs. Lyons over a copy of the Bible. The play’s Narrator warns that the action will have dire consequences.
Soon after Mrs. Johnstone gives birth to twin boys, Mrs. Lyons takes one away. Mrs. Johnstone tells her older children that one of the twins died. With Mrs. Johnstone still working at the home of the Lyons, Mrs. Lyons grows insecure about the poor woman’s presence around her new son, Edward. She fires Mrs. Johnstone, giving her some money as compensation. Thus, she reneges on her pact to let Mrs. Johnstone see the child regularly. Further manipulating Mrs. Johnstone’s fearful nature, Mrs. Lyons tells Mrs. Johnstone that twins separated at birth die the day they learn about their bond. A terrified Mrs. Johnstone takes the money and exits.
Edward grows up wealthy but lonely, while Michael (or Mickey), the twin left with Mrs. Johnstone, grows up in the chaos of the Johnstone household. Oblivious of their relationship, the boys meet each other on the street when they are seven, becoming instant friends. They cut their palms and shake hands in a ritual to become “blood brothers,” which they also see as a defense against Mickey’s bullying older brother, Sammy. When Mrs. Johnstone learns of their friendship, she turns Edward away. Mrs. Lyons reacts even more aggressively when she learns of the friendship, slapping Edward and telling him to stay away from “boys like that.”
Despite the admonishments of their mothers, the two boys continue to meet. However, Mrs. Lyons soon convinces her husband to move them to the country, thus drawing Edward away from the Johnstones. As Edward wishes Mickey goodbye, Mrs. Johnstone, warming to him, gives him a portrait of her and Mickey as a keepsake. In a twist of fate, the Town Council allots Mrs. Johnstone better housing in the country soon thereafter, and the Johnstones, too, move out of the city and settle close to the Lyons.
Seven more years pass before Edward and Mickey meet again. Though the Johnstones have a bigger house now, Mrs. Johnstone is troubled by Sammy’s frequent run-ins with the law. Fourteen-year-old Mickey is secretly in love with his closest friend, Linda, with whom he attends the local school. Meanwhile, Edward is suspended from boarding school for refusing to give a hostile teacher the locket he always wears around his neck. When Mrs. Lyons discovers that the locket contains a photo of Mrs. Johnstone and Edward, she is horrified.
One day, when Mickey and...
(This entire section contains 1114 words.)
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Linda are downhill from the Lyons Estate, they meet Edward. The two boys soon recognize each other and resume their friendship, this time with Linda rounding out their group. Unable to bear the renewed closeness of the boys, Mrs. Lyons visits Mrs. Johnstone and tries to bribe her to move away. When Mrs. Johnstone refuses to accept her money, a cursing and shrieking Mrs. Lyons tries—but fails—to stab her. Mrs. Johnstone proclaims Mrs. Lyons mad and throws her out of her house.
As Mickey, Linda, and Edward grow towards adulthood, Edward also falls in love with Linda and plans to confess his love to her. However, on the eve of Edward’s departure to university, Mickey finally tells Linda he loves her, and the two become a couple. Unlike Edward, Mickey and Linda do not have the resources to pursue higher education. Mickey soon takes up a job at Mr. Lyons’s factory. After Linda becomes pregnant, the two move in with Mrs. Johnstone. Following a financial crisis, the factory starts firing workers, and Mickey is laid off. The class difference between Mickey and Edward begins to grow starker.
Home for his Christmas break, Edward is keen to celebrate with Mickey and Linda. A preoccupied and frustrated Mickey refuses, because he has no money to dine or drink out. Edward’s offer of money humiliates Mickey, and the two friends have a falling out. When Edward learns from Linda that she and Mickey are married and expecting a child, he leaves. Desperate for cash, Mickey accompanies his older brother Sammy on an attempted robbery, in which Sammy shoots a man. The brothers are arrested, and Mickey is sentenced to seven years in prison.
Released early from prison for his good behavior, Mickey is a defeated man, now addicted to antidepressants. His daughter, Sarah, is now attending school. Edward, on the other hand, is now a prominent Town Councillor. Differences between Mickey and Linda grow as she urges him to quit his pills and get a job. When she procures him employment with the help of Edward, Mickey is seized by jealousy. Mrs. Lyons confirms the worst of Mickey’s suspicions when she reveals to him that Linda and Edward are indeed in love with each other. Blinded by rage, Mickey grabs a gun and heads to the Town Hall to hunt down Edward. A distraught Mrs. Johnstone chases after him.
At the Town Hall, Mickey confronts Edward. The two are surrounded by policemen. Hoping to stop Mickey, Mrs. Johnstone finally reveals to him the story of Edward’s origins. Thus, she unwittingly fulfills the fake superstition invented by Mrs. Lyons all those years ago. Maddened with rage, Mickey tells Mrs. Johnstone he wishes he was the twin she gave away, and he fatally shoots Edward. The police immediately open fire on Mickey, killing him on the spot, leaving behind an inconsolable Mrs. Johnstone. The narrator leaves the audience with an important question: Was it fate that led to the tragedy of the Johnstone twins, or was it class?
