Friday
Oct 28, 2005
SGN.org
Volume 33
Issue 43
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Tuesday, Dec 02, 2008
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Blood Brothers powerfully explores class injustice |
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| Blood Brothers powerfully explores class injustice | ||
| By E. Joyce Glasgow
- SGN A&E Writer
The English play Blood Brothers, by Willy Kussell, now playing at ArtsWest through October, is a potent comment on the injustices of the class system. Set in Liverpool in the 1950's and 60's, this excellently crafted ensemble musical melodrama is engrossing, entertaining and suspenseful. The story is familiar, involving twins separated at birth. One, Mickey (Drew Brun), is being raised by his birth mother, Mrs. Johnstone (wistfully played by Heather Hawkings). She has been abandoned by her husband and left with eight children to raise on a housekeeper's salary. The other twin, Edward (Sulo Turner), is raised with wealth and privilege by Mrs. Johnstone's desperate, infertile and coercive employer, Mrs. Lyons (played with appropriate melodrama by Trish La Grua), who is deceiving her husband (Doug Knoop) into believing that Edward is really their child, whom she says she has given birth to while he was away on a very long business trip. The plot thickens when the twins serendipitously meet at age seven while playing in the street. They become best friends and blood brothers, growing together to adulthood, neither knowing the other's true identity. Things begin to unravel as superstitions and guilt come into play for the two mothers. Mrs. Lyons' controlling ways get the best of her and she begins to crack. Darkness and foreboding increase as the narrator (John Bartley) weaves his way through the action, punctuating key plot twists and elevating tension, singing his sinister song, "The devil has got your number." It's heartbreaking to witness the inequality of the classes. Edward happily and innocently grows up and moves through life with grace, support, education and opportunities. His brother, Mickey, without these opportunities, is destined for a far less loft place in society. He relegated to overwork in a factory, eventually being laid-off and becoming a father at eighteen and subsequently, with no hope in sight, resorts to participating in a desperate, illegal act. He is unjustly sentenced to seven years in prison, where, bitter and broken, he becomes addicted to mentally destabilizing anti-depression medication. You can imagine the outcome, which I will not reveal. Drew Brun's portrayal of Mickey is riveting. His commitment to the role and in-depth exploration of the details of his character are wonderful to experience. The entire cast impressed me with their versatility and with their mastery of the Liverpudlian accent. (If you close your eyes, it could have been Paul McCartney who is speaking.) Scott Hinckley, music director, and his trio of piano, guitar and drums, provide good musical support, and the director, Christopher E. Zinovitch, has created a sensitive and powerful ensemble production that flows. I highly recommend this production. For tickets to Blood Brothers or other Arts West productions, call the box office at 206-938-0339 or visit them on the web at: www.artswest.org. |
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