Lyceum Theatre Sheffield – until 29th April 2023
Reviewed by Carol Crann
5*****
The show opens with two bodies laid out on stretchers in the street, immediately setting the scene for a tragic story that everyone in the audience knows is not going to end well.
Willie Russell’s tale of twin brothers separated at birth highlights how the two boys futures are determined by the circumstances of their upbringing, with Sean Jones and Joe Sleight brilliantly playing the two protagonists – Micky and Eddie.
Starting at ‘Seven Nearly Eight’, the children play those games that so many of us have done… Riding imaginary horses, shooting each other with pretend guns, and seeing who could spit the furthest. From there you see them grow into manhood, and they couldn’t take much more contrasting paths along the road of life.
The pair are watched over by their biological mum (Niki Collwell-Evans) and Eddie’s adopted mother (Paula Tappenden), the latter desperate to keep them apart despite fate having other ideas for them. As a result she gradually loses her grip on reality.
The ominous presence of the narrator, voiced by Richard Munday, increases the tension of this harrowing tale, and as the pair become ‘Blood Brothers’ they are constantly reminded that ‘the Devil’s got your number’. Their lives intertwine and they end up falling in love with the same girl, Linda (Olivia Sloyan) – an eventuality that inevitably leads to the story’s shocking climax.
Though sorrowful, Russell’s classic is at times full of joy, with typical northern humour and the Scouse ability to laugh at adversity. You can’t help but laugh at the antics of the young characters as they played in the street or tried to be clever with the local bobby, and it is fatastically played by the main cast.
Powerful renditions of the show’s now iconic songs were goosebump inducing, and there didn’t seem to be a dry eye in the house at the final scene as the case received the standing ovation that they so greatly deserved.