Blood Brothers @ Darlington Civic 2012

First things first - apart from watching Becca's school drama abridged version of this modern masterpiece reviewed previously I have never seen Blood Brothers.  Sure, I know the story and, having ran lines with my eldest for 3 months, I had a pretty good idea of most of the dialogue, but this was scant preparation for the completely immersive way in which the cast & production team take you on the life journey of the Johnstone twins. 

Right from the beginning, the characters were real, as large as life and utterly believable.  There was no time, nor was there any need for time, to grow into the story as from 1st curtain we were in Liverpool in the 60's.  The accents, the scenery, the brilliant cast and I swear I could smell and taste coal fire smoke and street dust.  It was a "feet-up and let the story take you" type of show, one which is sadly all too rare now as theatre (and especially long running theatre) often tries too hard to be clever.

The part of the narrator was missing in my only previous experience of Willy Russell's masterpiece so I was intrigued to watch Marti Pellow and his portrayal of the 'devil on the shoulder' role. He was wonderful, a sinister mix of malevolent story teller and future-wise soothsayer.  His omnipresence lent an eery subtext to the whole story, as if watching everything in a 'told you so' hindsight which stoked the feelings of pending doom and prepared the watcher for the tragic ending.

The cast, especially those playing Mickey (James Templeton), Eddie (Jorden Bird) and Linda (Olivia Sloyan ) were truly believable as snotty-nose, fun loving kids complete with the simple innocence of make believe horses, gun fights and target practice.  In fact, it never occurred whilst watching the story unfold that it was the same actors who then moved through adolescence and into adulthood, it was simply Mickey, Eddie and Linda as they grew up. 

The story's heart rendering ending is as well known as the twist at the end of the Sixth Sense; everyone I know who has seen this play seems to like to confess to shedding a tear, so I was quite dubious as to how something so obvious and expected can provoke such a response, boy was I wrong.  I have not witnessed such sheer raw and visible emotion from a leading lady before;  Niki Evans as Mrs Johnstone was just mesmerising, hypnotic and I could feel myself rapidly joining the aforementioned group of "I cried at the end of Blood Brothers".  It was clear that  Niki puts a helluva lot of emotion into her performance, it was only on the 4th and 5th curtain call that she seemed able to lift the tearful veil and start to smile again.

The audience love this show, there was a full house at the start and a full house standing ovation at the end and I have to admit, it gave me goosebumps.  If you have yet to see Blood Brothers then tickets are still available, get your seat, get your hankies and get ready to join the "I cried at the end...." club.