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Show: Blood Brothers
Society: Churchill Theatre Bromley (professional)
Venue: Churchill Theatre Bromley
Credits: By Willy Russell. Directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright. Produced by Bill Kenwright
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 22/02/2016
Blood Brothers
Chris Abbott | 23 Feb 2016 15:11pm
When productions last as long as Blood Brothers they tend to take on a life of their own, moving from being a one-off occasion to an event which audiences enjoy attending again and again. That was certainly true for many in the enthusiastic first night at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley of the 2016 tour.
First seen almost 30 years ago and far from successful on its first London outing, this is a show that has been worked on and improved over the years. The story and portrayals are very much of a time past, though one with which many older audience members firmly identified. Strongly cast with veterans of the West End run alongside talented newcomers, this was a quality ensemble led by Lyn Paul, who has been playing the part of young mother Mrs Johnston since 1999. Her soaring voice drove the story forward even though of necessity this is a rather more mature Mrs Johnston than in some previous productions. There also seemed to be far too much amplified echo on her voice compared to others although this may have been corrected for later performances.
Acting honours go to regular performer of the role Sean Jones as Mickey and newcomer Joel Benedict as Eddie, both managing to portray the childhood scenes in a pacy, convincing and touching first act before playing their characters as they age and grow apart. Feisty Danielle Corlass, another experienced performer of the role, hit all the marks as the girl who comes between them. These three actors worked well together and greatly amused the audience, with the men even managing the difficult task of looking like believable twins.
In a cast with no weak links, Peter Washington’s Sammy and Paula Tappenden’s Mrs Lyons were totally convincing and moved their characters beyond stereotypes or caricatures, a difficult trick to pull off with this piece. If Kristofer Harding as Narrator came over perhaps less well this was in no way due to what was an exemplary performance; but the spoken verse for the Narrator is perhaps the aspect of the show that has dated most.
What still works is the fable at the heart of the story, with its echo of many other stories of twins separated at birth, mixed with a very British sense of class and social justice. The mixture of caricatures like the milkman and judge with the much more raw story of the family at the centre of the narrative still jars at times, but this is of no concern to the show’s many enthusiastic supporters.
Bill Kenwright saved this show by reinventing it for the West End and he seems likely to tour it for many more years to come; with the right casting and production values this high, it is likely to continue to provide high quality entertainment for audiences old and new.
- : admin
- : 22/02/2016