Transcript Blood Brothers by Willy Russell: Act One

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Aims
- To prepare for the extract section of GCSE Literature mock exam
- To become familiar with plot, theme and character, structure, language
- To consider effectiveness of opening
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englishteaching.co.uk
The play opens on a council chamber, two dead
bodies are lying on stretchers surrounded by police
and onlookers. As the narrator explains the story,
the onlookers slowly start to exit, leaving only the
narrator and a grieving woman on stage
(Overture).
What is gained by showing us the ending at the start?
Tell me it’s not true
Act 1 Synopsis- First Part
‘So did y’hear the story of the
Johnstone twins?’
- The narrator speaks as though telling
an old story. What is effect of this?
- Why does he use rhyme?
- Why does the
questioning here?
narrator
use
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NARRATOR (speaking): So did y’hear the story of the
Johnstone twins?
As like each other as two new pins,
Of one womb born, on the self same day,
How one was kept and one given away?
An’ did you never hear how the Johnstones died,
Never knowing that they shared one name,
Till the day they died, when a mother cried
My own dear sons lie slain.
MRS JOHNSTONE: An did y’ never hear of the mother, so
cruel.
There’s a stone in place of her heart?
Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves
How she came to play this part.
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Mrs Johnstone sings us the story of her life and how
she became a mother of seven by the age of 25. She
explains how her husband left her for another woman
and she is expecting another baby.
Marilyn Monroe
• Why is this told as a song?
• Consider what we learn about characters, setting, themes
• Look at the language used- humour, use of dancing as a
metaphor, and Marilyn Monroe as an icon.
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Mrs
Johnstone
gets a job cleaning
the house of a rich
woman,
Mrs
Lyons.
Mrs Lyons' husband
is away on business
for nine months.
Mrs Johnstone reluctantly agrees
as Mrs Lyons says she will be
able to see the child every day at
work.
Mrs Johnstone gives
birth to two boys,
Michael and Edward.
Mrs Johnstone learns that she
is in fact expecting twins; she is
extremely worried that the
welfare will take some of her
children away as she cannot
afford to look after them all.
Mrs Lyons learns of this and as
she is unable to have children of
her own, persuades Mrs
Johnstone to give her one of the
twins (My Child).
She comes home from the
hospital to find men taking away
ordered items she couldn't pay
for, and sings of how everything
slips away from her, even one of
her babies (Easy Terms).
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What is the root cause of Mrs
Johnstone’s problems?
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