Historical Context

Russell: Blood Brothers

In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Willy Russell's Blood Brothers. The first six modules serve as an introduction to play, exploring the play's historical context, the extent to which it is a 'Brechtian' play, the fact that we are told in the very first scene what will happen at the end, and the themes of superstition, nature and nurture, and destiny and fate. In the following nine modules, we go through the play scene by scene, providing close reading and detailed analysis, with commentary on character, plot, themes, language, symbolism, and more.

Note: We use the Methuen Drama version of the play (ed. Jim Mulligan). Students using a different version of the play may encounter slight differences in the page numbers.

Historical Context

In this module, we think about the historical context for the play, focusing in particular on: (i) the initial production of the play; (ii) its key themes; (iii) the importance of the play's setting in 1980s Liverpool; (iv) the play's success and its 'relevance' today; (v) the centrality of the family in tragic drama; (v) the economy of Russell's writing; (vi) the figure of the narrator and his relation to the Greek tragic chorus; (vii) the concepts of realism and 'the fourth wall'; and (viii) the extent to which a play's impact is driven by three key concepts: relatability, empathy, and sympathy.