Themes of Blood Brothers

The themes surrounding the play ‘Blood Brothers’ are vitally important to understand what the play is actually about and its deeper meanings. It is also vital to know from an actor’s standpoint as it helps to deeper understand the characters, the times they lived in and what Willy Russell would have wanted to portray to the audience.

One of the biggest themes found in the play is that of nature vs nurture. This is probably the biggest aspect of the play as we see twin brothers who are identical in every way who were split apart at a very young age and brought up in two very different environments. The play highlights how these differences in a life creates many effects for these characters and how despite this they find each other anyway.

Even from the time the two brothers’ ‘Mickey’ and ‘Eddie’ were young, only seven years old, it was very obvious the differences their environments had created. Highlighting how decisive nurture can be. The divergences between the two are seen in their behaviour, vocabulary and how they talk to each other. Nevertheless, due to their young age these differences do not matter, and they end up becoming the best of friends. As the years go on the gap between the two increases and their feelings change. ‘Mickey’ becomes hateful of ‘Eddie, jealous and angry of what his background (his nurture) has allowed him to achieve. ‘Mickey’ wishes that he had had the same advantage of money and what he deems is an easy life. In the play it is shown how great the gap is between nature and nurture, despite the twins coming from and at their core having the same nature, it is their nurture that has been the deciding factor in their lives.

Furthermore, Willy Russell chooses to focus on the lies that society tells itself and the disparity between the working class and the upper class. In society during the time of ‘Blood Brothers’ the prevalent thought was that if you worked hard enough then you could achieve whatever you wanted. However, this was simply untrue, during this time many people were working extremely hard just to make ends meat and without the advantages that those who were richer had, this was impossible to escape. This creates the backbone of the play as it is this class divide that makes ‘Mickey’ so angry by the end of the play. He has worked hard and yet has nothing to show for it and ‘Eddie’ has worked but seems to get everything.

Another key theme in ‘Blood Brothers’ is violence. Throughout the play we see ‘Mickey’ and ‘Our Sammy’ playing with air guns and using guns and violence as a way to have fun. Yet, as the story progresses, they continue to use guns and this violence, but they and their consequences are now real. They can do a great deal of damage and harm to one another. This theme is more subtle than the others, but when you do realise it, it has a massive impact upon the story.