DO NOW ACTIVITY

Read through
what you have
completed on
your Willy Russell
section so far.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
& The Big Questions
To be able to talk about the
playwright Willy Russell and
create a fact file on him.

To consider WHY he wrote

Blood Brothers.
Who is Willy Russell?
Why did he write
Blood Brothers?
PROGRE
PROGRESS PROGRESS +
SS
THIS I can work
independently to
I can show creativity
and flair in my
presentation.
LESSON produce the set
sections of my
coursework. My coursework is
detailed, informative
and clear.
I can use the teacher
templates and I have taken care over
questions to SPAG.
demonstrate my
understanding.

TI ON
C
I STIN
D
PAS
S
 BLOOD BROTHERS
• When was he born? WHO MADE IT?
• Where is he from? PLAYWRIGHT WILLY RUSSELL

• What are a lot of his

plays about?
• How did he become a
playwright?
• What other plays has he
written?
• What inspired him to
write Blood Brothers?
• Pick out some relevant
quotes from the
interview with him.
Born in 1947 to a working class family near Liverpool, Russell’s BLOOD BROTHERS
upbringing greatly influenced the plays he wrote as they explore
social class a lot, working class struggles and are always set in
WHO MADE IT?
PLAYWRIGHT WILLY RUSSELL
Liverpool.

Russell became a hairdresser upon leaving school at 15 but at the

age of 21 he decided to go back to college where he qualified as a
teacher. During this time he also wrote and performed folk music.
He also began writing drama and in 1972 he took a programme of
three one-act plays to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There, he
caught the attention of writer John McGrath who recommended
him to the Liverpool Everyman theatre.

Some of the well known plays he has written are Stags and Hens,
Educating Rita and Our Day Out. All of these plays explore political
issues of the 1980s and how the economic recession made
inequality and class division worse. The government in charge at
the time would have greatly affected his opinions as there was a lot
of unease around the working class and unemployment.

Blood Brothers is probably the most famous of all his plays and he
says that he was inspired to write the story after reading about
twins who had been separated at birth. He says the thought of this
“Sent shivers down my spine.” He also says he wrote it as he was
pondering “nature versus nurture” – in other words, does the way
you are brought up in your family life effect the life you have?
BLOOD BROTHERS HISTORY
Blood Brothers was first written as a straight play for educational purposes. It toured around
secondary schools in the Liverpool area.
Later, the creator Willy Russell, made the decision to add songs and music to the story. He
felt this added depth to the character’s situations and inner emotions. He had also
experienced previous success with his music and song writing and felt he should join his two
skills as playwright and musician together.
In its new musical format, Russell transferred it to the West End for a short run in 1983 where
musical fans and theatre goers would come to see it. It won an award for Best New Musical
and went on to do a year-long national tour before returning for a revival in the West End in
1988 where it stayed at the Albery Theatre for 3 years, transferring to the Phoenix Theatre in
1991. The revival ran for more than 24 years in the West End, and played more than 10,000
performances, becoming the third longest-running musical production in West End history. It
finally closed in November 2012. The musical has since been produced with success on tour,
on Broadway and elsewhere, and it has developed a cult following. Theatre goers and musical
theatre fans love the story, the characters and the songs. Many famous celebrities have
played the lead roles which has also aided its popularity even further.
SKILLS REQUIRED OF THE PLAYWRIGHT, WILLY RUSSELL
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PLAYWRIGHT, WILLY RUSSELL