Let’s start this with a massive shout-out and respect for Willy Russell, writer of Blood Brothers and modern classics Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, who has entertained and inspired recent generations by championing the working class, making heroines and heroes out of the unappreciated and the underdogs of society. His works and characters, using Liverpool as the backdrop to his simple but poignant stories, reflect the working-class struggle to escape poverty and injustice, be who they were meant to be, and be accepted by others.

Blood Brothers is perhaps the most acclaimed of his works, winning the Best New Musical in 1983 and picking up the Best Book of a Musical Tony 10 years later in 1993, and has known resounding success touring the globe or residing on the West End ever since. It is a musical, or ‘a Liverpudlian folk opera’ about a pair of twins, separated at birth, brought up in separate homes – one rich and privileged, the other rough and poor – a psychology student’s dream – but it is so much more than that. Russell draws on Greek and Shakespearean tragedy to structure this tale which, set in the sixties, deals with themes of class and gender inequality, redundancy, and mental health. Post pandemic, the play feels highly relevant.

The theatre was packed on opening night, the play clearly still on the GCSE syllabus, as the foyers were full of school parties, being herded to their seats by teams of highly organised English teachers with commanding voices. Don’t let this be a deterrent; once seated there wasn’t a distracted peep or phone ping from any of them – the whole audience was mesmerised.

In this tour, Lyn Paul returns for her farewell performance in the role of Mrs Johnstone, which she first made her own in London’s West End, in 1997. She has been widely acclaimed as the best Mrs Johnstone in the play’s long history of performances, and she doesn’t disappoint. She picked up satisfying harmonies with her fellow cast members, notably the narrator and Mrs Lyons, and the finale Tell Me It’s Not True produces a heart-wrenching performance. The audience reacted with the most spontaneous and complete standing ovation I have experienced in a long while, which lasted through two formal and two informal bows – I think – I was laughing and crying so much.

The show is playing at the New Victoria theatre from November 23 to 27 as its current 16-week tour comes to an end. If there are tickets left, I’m sure Saturday night’s performance will be memorable.

[Amanda Briggs, November 2021]