Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers
Book, Music & Lyrics: Willy Russell. Harvest Rain. Director: Tim O’Connor. Musical Director: Maitlohn Drew. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. 1 - 17 August 2013

Amanda Muggleton is the reason to see Blood Brothers. As Liverpool mother Mrs Johnstone she’s the glue that holds this whole production together. She grabs the role by its throat and wrings every ounce of pathos out of it.

Willy Russell’s play with music, loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’s The Corsican Brothers, ran 24 years in London’s West End and still packs an emotional punch. Harvest Rain’s pro/am production is the first time the show has been seen in Queensland.

The story of a mother who gives away one of her twin boys at birth to later find them die on the same day has enough drama to fill several episodes of any soap opera. Amanda Muggleton hauntingly captured the plight and the spirit of this working-class woman with the odds stacked strongly against her. Her song, “Marilyn Monroe,” used as a recurring theme throughout the show, was particularly effective.

Others to do well were Julie Cottrell as the neurotic Mrs Lyons and Dale Pengelly as her husband. The twins, played by Zack Anthony Curran (Mickey) and Shaun Kohlman (Edward), were better and more believable in the second half when they were adults than the first when they had to be kids. I found the grit missing from Curran’s portrayal of Mickey. Stacey de Waard’s best moments as Linda were as an adult.

Director Tim O’Connor’s decision to cast the Narrator young meant the character lost any authority and his desire to integrate the character into the action more was confusing, particularly at the finale when Mrs Johnstone handed him the locket.

Josh McIntosh’s set looked working-class but there was no grime. Where was the graffiti?

At times the theatre was filled with so much dry ice it seemed like we were enveloped in a Liverpool fog, but despite that the light that shone above it all was Amanda Muggleton. It was her show. She was the jewel of this production.

Peter Pinne

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