playwright's techniques

• Form and genre

  • tragedy, the downfall of a play's main character(s), serious themes and an unhappy ending
  • Russel uses middle-class and working-class characters to make it more relatable
  • also features comedy, this provides comedy relief for the audience, and fairy tale- the narrator takes on the role of a storyteller, he uses language features often found in fairy tales such as rhyming couplets and repetition of key phrases
• structure

  • the play has a cyclical structure, helps to create dramatic irony
  • the narrative is mostly linear after the re-enactment of the ending
  • this helps to build tension, the audience knows that the story is moving towards a fixed point, but they don't know exactly when or how it will be reached
  • Russel condenses more than 20 years into two short acts-there are many sudden time jumps and changes in location
  • the pace increases in the second half of Act 2- time jumps and short bursts of action are used
• • there are no scene breaks in the play which helps with the flow and means the audience get no relief from the play's rapid pace
• • style
  • naturalism- set in real places, historical context embedded within the text, clothing reflect the late 20th-century fashions
  • non-naturalistic : the narrator breaks the fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience, flashbacks, the narrator plays multiple roles, musical elements
  • minimalistic set (naturalistic)
  • non-naturalistic lighting
• • mood and atmosphere
  • contrasting moods: Russel uses a mixture of serious and humorous moments in the play. This means the mood shifts throughout the play
  • there is always an underlying sense of tension- the opening reveals there will be an unhappy ending, this creates an ominous atmosphere that is maintained throughout the play
  • the mood is darker in Act 2, all the light-hearted moments are immediately followed by serious ones. This makes any happiness in the characters' lives seem fleeting
• lighting and sound for tension

  1. at the start of Act 1, the narrator stands alone on stage before the "lights come up". Keeping everything on stage apart from the narrator in complete darkness creates suspense as the audience waits to see what will be revealed. This builds a tense and mysterious atmosphere before the lights are brought up to show the re-enactment
  2. sound designers can use eerie or unsettling music to signify that something bad is going to happen.
  3. sound effects are also used to build tension- a heartbeat could be used during Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons' pact. This could gradually get louder, which would show Mrs Johnstone's fear, making it unsettling for the audience
• how does willy russel use dramatic irony in blood brothers?

  audience knows from the start that mickey and edward are twins, but the characters do not, creating tension and foreshadowing tragedy.
• what is the role of the narrator?

  acts as a greek chorus, foreshadows events, reinforces themes of fate vs inevitability