Blood Brothers

Willy Russell’s iconic 1983 play-with-music tells the story of twin brothers separated at birth because their mother cannot afford to keep them both. She gives one of them away to the wealthy Mrs Lyons and the boys grow up as friends, for a long time in ignorance of their fraternity.

Blood Brothers was first performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983 and subsequently transferred to the Lyric Theatre, London. It was revived in London’s West End in 1988 for a long-running production and opened on Broadway in 1993.

This fully revised, up-to-date Student Edition of the play looks at the play through the lens of twenty-first century theatre, examining its context (1980s Britain) and its implications; the play’s multiple themes, characters and use of language; as well as featuring interviews with the playwright himself alongside activities and suggested discussions aimed at the teacher and student.