“Blood Brothers” first staged in 1983) was one of the 1980s signature examples of musical theatre, produced in the wake of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s reshaping of the modern musical into freshly dramatic form combining popular tunes that felt like operatic arias and dealing with absolutely any sort of subject.  “Blood Brothers”, however, is entirely (story, libretto and music) the work of Merseyside dramatist Willy Russell, whose feet were firmly planted on the territory of contemporary working- class life in the era of Thatcherite politics. Given that, it’s amazing how optimistic some of his plays are, but “Blood Brothers” pursues instead a tragic tale of truly operatic proportions. Mrs Johnstone (X-Factor’s Niki Colwell Evans) is the devoted, if financially feckless, mother of an unruly brood of children. She may once have resembled Marilyn Monroe, but her husband has just run off with a younger woman, she’s broke and she’s pregnant. A cleaning job for a posh businessman’s wife might solve part of her problems, until the news that she’s expecting twins wipes out that optimistic possibility. But her employer (whose husband is conveniently away for months) desperately wants a baby so why not split the brothers and give one to be raised by this wealthy childless couple? This plot could fuel a Jacobean tragedy, a Hollywood comedy or a full-blown classical opera. Here it becomes an essay on nature versus nurture – the boys may lead different lives yet they are constantly drawn to befriend each other, falling for the same girl as their paths diverge and rejoin through to adulthood. And do you think this could possibly end well, kiddies? Good set, sterling performances and a painfully accurate sense of the time (please, don’t let anyone ever try to update the setting!) this revival is now a period piece. As with so many historical dramas, it’s probably going to look better at a greater distance of time, but I note it’s already taught on the GCSE syllabus. As one of the themes is the influence of education (or lack of it) that’s an ironic triumph.

Gail-Nina Anderson