Blood Brothers Theatre Review
Blood Brothers Theatre Review
Word Count:1,282
Cast:
Mrs Johnstone – Vivienne Carlyle
Narrator- Phillip Stewart
Eddie- Paul Christopher
Mickey- Mark Rice-Oxley
Mrs Lyons- Abigail Jaye
Linda- Louise Clayton
Sammy- Michael Southern
Donna Marie- Kevin Pallister
We visited the Phoenix Theatre on the fourth of October and when we the play started I was drawn to the actual setting of the stage; firstly contrast in the set and how it represented the two side’s class divide. Mrs Johnstone’s huge family all cramped up in the small, crumbling, graffiti covered terraced council housing with the rest of the workers and Mrs Lyon’s large elegant suburban detached house with is wrought iron street lamp and large windows and also with the interior of the houses only the kitchen of Mrs Johnstone’s house is shown overflowing with cooking utensils and laundry and other domestic trivialities but not a chair in sight which means Mrs Johnstone is always either shown standing up or sitting on the step whereas Mrs Lyons living room is shown with its tasteful decorating, art deco lamps, corner pillars and a large sofa in the middle where she is often shown sitting on offering another contrast between her and Mrs Johnstone.
Another feature of the setting I particularly enjoyed was the raked stage which allowed better levels for the actors the stage is heavily raked, meaning that a lot of the action is easy to see from all over the house. The set is simple and remains stationary, creating a focused performance space and emphasised certain scenes like when Mrs Lyons suggested Mrs Johnstone give her one of the twins she upstaged Mrs Johnstone who had to turn to respond and also allows for multiple scenes such as when Mrs Lyons revealed Eddie and Linda’s ‘affair’ she turned Micky to face upstage where Eddie and Linda are walking together, which emphasises the cross cutting of that scene and another feature of the raked stage is that it simply allowed a better view of the
Word Count:1,282
Cast:
Mrs Johnstone – Vivienne Carlyle
Narrator- Phillip Stewart
Eddie- Paul Christopher
Mickey- Mark Rice-Oxley
Mrs Lyons- Abigail Jaye
Linda- Louise Clayton
Sammy- Michael Southern
Donna Marie- Kevin Pallister
We visited the Phoenix Theatre on the fourth of October and when we the play started I was drawn to the actual setting of the stage; firstly contrast in the set and how it represented the two side’s class divide. Mrs Johnstone’s huge family all cramped up in the small, crumbling, graffiti covered terraced council housing with the rest of the workers and Mrs Lyon’s large elegant suburban detached house with is wrought iron street lamp and large windows and also with the interior of the houses only the kitchen of Mrs Johnstone’s house is shown overflowing with cooking utensils and laundry and other domestic trivialities but not a chair in sight which means Mrs Johnstone is always either shown standing up or sitting on the step whereas Mrs Lyons living room is shown with its tasteful decorating, art deco lamps, corner pillars and a large sofa in the middle where she is often shown sitting on offering another contrast between her and Mrs Johnstone.
Another feature of the setting I particularly enjoyed was the raked stage which allowed better levels for the actors the stage is heavily raked, meaning that a lot of the action is easy to see from all over the house. The set is simple and remains stationary, creating a focused performance space and emphasised certain scenes like when Mrs Lyons suggested Mrs Johnstone give her one of the twins she upstaged Mrs Johnstone who had to turn to respond and also allows for multiple scenes such as when Mrs Lyons revealed Eddie and Linda’s ‘affair’ she turned Micky to face upstage where Eddie and Linda are walking together, which emphasises the cross cutting of that scene and another feature of the raked stage is that it simply allowed a better view of the