Analysis of Blood Brothers
...boys, namely Mickey, symbolised a gun with their hands interlinked, the three outer fingers of each hand intertwining, and the index fingers and thumbs resembling the barrel and trigger. This is a typical childish symbol for a gun, and therefore it impressed. The scene was extremely energetic, and fast-paced (as you would probably expect from children playing.) The boys had imaginary horses, and both rode in different ways. Mickey was a gruff, angry rider, making quick shuffling movements with his feet and imagined having a whip to make the horse pick up pace. This was extremely childish, but funny simultaneously, as it was something I could relate to – having engaged in the game as a youth myself (I repentant to say.) When Mickey had been told off by Mrs. Lyons for playing with Edward, he hugged his mother with a childish sentimentality; this was quite heartening as a viewer, and made me see the emotional side of Mickey – and the other part of a childish anima, wherefrom this impressed me. The hug was very tight, perhaps uncomfortable for Mrs. Johnston, showing how Mickey was not really aware of what he was doing, but too it was loving. Mickey’s arms were locked around his mother’s neck, with his head nestled into her chest – symbolising the childish need for maternal warmth and love, this impressed greatly. Edward, or Eddie, was a very different character to Mickey. Eddie is a much slower, relaxed character who has not been brought up on the same morals as Mickey; he speaks with a distinctive accent, one much more articulate than Mickey’s. Mickey is a Liverpudlian, Eddie is one too, but this is not so inherent in his accent – this shows class, and therefore had an affect on me as a member of the audience. Eddie’s posture is very tight, proper, his usual expression was one of content, his eyes lit, wide, and his gaze satisfied. Eddie was always very leisured in his movement, fairly intelligent, and was unaware of swear words. The most comical incident of this was when Mickey had taught Eddie the expression ‘fuck off’, as though it were a noun, not a phrase. Then, most naively, Eddie feels real aggression toward his ‘mother’, and calls her a ‘fuck off’. This was one of the most humorous moments in the first act, and really accentuated the naivety of childhood, I looked upon this with abject pity, but too with wry amusement – a real impression was made on the audience at this point! Eddie is always aware of his gesticulation, he usually stands with his hands together behind his back – like some sort of choirboy – and is upright. When Eddie is meeting a girl called Linda, a friend of Mickey, for the first time, he is unimaginably shy- he turns away completely, looks straight at the floor and fidgets with his hands, this moment was extremely effective, and I felt compassion toward Eddie again. When Eddie met Mickey’s mother for the first time, in theory, his was unusually polite for a child, but typical in his actions as a typecast ‘well-mannered’ character. Eddie is confident with being polite, and assumes it normal to put his hand up to ask a question, his face awash with anticipation and delight. This really impressed me, and made me laugh too, as Eddie is such an eccentric boy, quite introverted, and spiritual, I decided it must have been quite a challenge to play his character. At select points in the play, Eddie says some very funny things, to name a few, ‘that sounds like super fun!’, and the awe-inspired, ‘do you?’. Eddie seems unaware of his wordings, and phrases, and I felt empathetic towards him, as Mickey patently thought Eddie as some kind of social maladjustment – judging from his facial expression alone. I thought it was really sweet when Eddie starts reading the dictionary with such wonder in his eyes, as it highlights the intrigue of childhood, and also reminded me of myself – having sat down to read the dictionary many times as a child, and thought of myself as ‘cool’, but actually being reminded regularly by my brother that it was, in fact, extremely ‘uncool’. I would beg to differ. Moreover, the point where Eddie begins reading the dictionary is quite sweet, naïve and where...