Literature: Blood Brothers (Willy Russell)
Blood Brothers is Willy Russell's musical play, a GCSE English Literature modern drama set text (AQA Paper 2 Section A, or the equivalent Edexcel component) following twins Mickey and Edward, separated at birth and raised in different social classes, whose lives collide again with tragic consequences. Exam questions give a printed extract and ask how Russell presents a character or theme in that extract and across the whole play, testing detailed knowledge of the plot and characters (AO1), analysis of Russell's dramatic techniques such as the Narrator, song and dramatic irony (AO2), and understanding of 1980s class and social context (AO3).
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the printed extract closely, annotating Russell's stage directions, dialogue and any songs or narration before planning your answer.
- Identify two or three techniques with a clear, explainable effect, such as dramatic irony, dialect or the Narrator's role, rather than simply listing quotations.
- Move outward from the extract to the whole play, choosing moments that develop or contrast with what the extract shows, such as an earlier or later stage in Mickey and Edward's friendship.
- Link analysis to 1980s context, such as unemployment, class divide and superstition, where it genuinely deepens the point.
- Use precise subject terminology, such as dramatic irony, cyclical structure, motif and foil, accurately rather than for decoration.
- Plan a clear structure, with an introduction stating your line of argument, points moving through the extract then the play, and a brief conclusion, before you start writing.
Worked example
Early in the play, Mrs Johnstone recalls a superstition she was warned about: shoes left on a table cost a family its future. Russell's lyric splits the word future in half so the singer stumbles over it. Explain how this moment presents the theme of fate.
- Identify the technique: the superstition is delivered as a folk warning, giving it the weight of inherited belief rather than personal opinion.
- Note that the word future is deliberately split across two syllables, which Russell marks to be sung or spoken with hesitation, drawing attention to it and foreshadowing that this family's future is already under threat.
- Explain the effect: introducing superstition this early primes the audience to read every later coincidence, especially the twins' reunion, as fated rather than accidental.
- Link to the wider play: the Narrator repeats and echoes superstitions like this throughout, functioning almost like a chorus reminding the audience that a debt or price is coming due.
- Link to context: Russell uses superstition partly as a folk explanation the poor, powerless Mrs Johnstone reaches for, standing in for the real social forces, poverty and class, that actually shape the twins' fates.
- Final answer: the superstition presents fate as something the play insists on from its very opening, using folk belief and a broken, foreboding word to prepare the audience for a tragedy that Russell suggests is driven as much by class as by chance.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is Mrs Johnstone's job when she works for Mrs Lyons?Show answer
Answer: She is Mrs Lyons's cleaner (housekeeper).
Q2Why does Mrs Johnstone agree to give up one of her twins?Show answer
Answer: She cannot afford to keep both babies and is persuaded by the childless Mrs Lyons, who promises to give the child a better life.
Q3Identify the technique in the Narrator's recurring references to a debt owed to the devil.Show answer
Answer: Motif/refrain - a repeated image that builds a sense of impending fate throughout the play.
Q4Who is Linda, and which twin does she marry?Show answer
Answer: Mickey and Edward's childhood friend, who marries Mickey.
Q5True or false: Mickey and Edward know from childhood that they are brothers.Show answer
Answer: False - neither knows the truth until near the end of the play.
Q6Give one piece of evidence that Mickey's and Edward's lives diverge because of class, not ability.Show answer
Answer: Mickey struggles to find work and becomes depressed after being made redundant, while Edward, raised wealthy, goes to university and becomes a councillor despite the twins sharing the same parentage.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State four differences in how Mickey and Edward are brought up.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Explain how Russell presents the theme of fate in the shoes-on-the-table superstition from the worked example above.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 6 available
'Mrs Lyons is more responsible for the twins' deaths than Mrs Johnstone.' To what extent do you agree?
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
See real English past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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