Blood Brothers
by Willy Russell
by Willy Russell
Exec
Director - Tilly James
Assistant Director - Amy Vyskocil-Flint
Producer - Naomi Barks
Assistant Director - Anna Hazell
Special Thanks
Chloe George
Finn O'Grady
Thomas McCarthy
Tommy Haines
Prod
Set Designer - Zarah Taylor
Lighting Designer - Catrin Parry
Sound Designer - Nicole Christmas
Costume, Hair & Make-Up - Isobel Hall
Stage Manager - Tabi Arnfeld
Fight Coordinator - Andras Bence Kecskes
Intimacy Coordinator - Elizabeth Winstanley
Photographer - Christina Pinhorn
Set in 1960s Liverpool, twin brothers Mickey and Edward are separated at birth after their mother, Mrs Johnstone, cannot afford to keep them both. She ends up giving up Edward away to a wealthy woman, Mrs Lyons. The two boys are raised in completely different environments in the city and are reunited through chance encounters as children, becoming friends, and swearing to be each other's blood brother forever. However, as they grow up, the two can’t ignore the class difference and love triangle with their mutual childhood friend Linda, with the building conflict erupting into fatal conflict.
Blood Brothers was Drama Society's 2023 "Fresher's Play." It appeared on the Autumn line-up as the week 8 weekend show, with performances from Nov. 24th-26th, 2023. The "Fresher's Play" allowed opportunity for new first year undergraduate/postgraduate students at the university to get involved in theatre!
When applying to be a part of the Fresher's Play, I went for the role of assistant director as I was unfamiliar with the widely GCSE text of Blood Brothers and really wanted to work along someone who had a better grasp of the text than me to create this production. As assistant director, I was responsible for aiding the director in achieving their artistic vision, stepping in and leading some rehearsals as was needed and providing a different perspective to the show's rehearsal process. I also played a key role in aiding the cast and crew as we all navigated our production week in the drama barn. We faced a lot of issues, primarily coming from changes in the cast and production team, however as an exec team, we were able to work as together and create solutions to our problems, bouncing back and being able to put on three spectacular shows. I would be lying if I didn't say that working on the Fresher's Play was not stressful, but I think it was the perfect introduction to have had on how the society works and how much dedication and effort it takes to pull off a show of any kind. I had a lot of fun working with this lovely group of talented people!