1Name:

Act One

KS4 Blood Brothers Knowledge OrganiserEvents Context

Act 1 1. Prologue2. Marilyn Monroe3. Mrs Johnstone vs Mrs Lyons (living

conditions)4. The pact.5. Mrs Johnstone loses her job.6. Mickey is envious of Sammy.7. Mickey and Edward meet.8. Sammy and his attitude towards Edward.9. Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons try and

separate Mickey and Edward.10. Edward swears at his mother.11. Kid’s games.12. The police man13. Edward moves away and Mrs Johnstone

gives him a locket.14. The Johnstones are rehoused.

Willy Russell 1. Born into a working class family.2. He grew up near Liverpool.3. Father had various jobs including mining and factory work.4. Annoyed at treatment of intelligent working class and associated

stereotypes.5. Left school at 15 with just one O’level: a D in English Language.

Went to evening classes and university to become a teacher.Liverpool 6. A major port and the centre for trade providing lots of jobs at the

docks.7. During the Industrial decline, Liverpool became very vulnerable as

the docks were shut and unemployment rates soared. 8. Some men turned to crime and gangs in order to support themselves

and their families. There were also riots in 1980s.Margaret Thatcher

9. Prime Minister in 1979.10. Reduced the power of the trade unions and closed down many

factories etc leading to widespread unemployment.

Act 2 1. A fresh new start.2. Sammy and the bus.3. Mickey and Edward get suspended.4. Mrs Lyons and the locket.5. Mickey and Edward meet again.6. Nymphomaniac nights and Swedish Au

Pairs.7. Mrs Lyons confronts Mrs Johnstone.8. Summer montage.9. Edward leaves for university and Mickey and

Linda get together.10. Linda is pregnant. Mickey and Linda get

married.11. Mickey is made redundant.12. Mickey and Edward fight.13. The robbery.14. Mickey goes to prison.15. Mickey becomes addicted to pills.16. Linda and Edward begin an affair.17. Mrs Lyons shows Mickey the affair.18. Mickey shoots Edward and the police shoot

Mickey.

Skelmersdale 11. In the 1960s the government began building New Towns. These were small, existing towns which were extended and redeveloped to provide more housing for nearby cities.

12. Working class families were rehoused here in the 1960s.Class 13. Working class vs Middle class divide

14. More opportunities for middle classes reflected in education, job prospects and wealth.

Education 15. The Education Act of 1944 led to ‘secondary modern schools’ and ‘grammar schools.’

16. Top 20% went to a grammar school with an academic curriculum. Secondary modern taught more practical subjects.

17. 7% of students were educated in private, fee-paying schools. The average boarding school fees in the 1960s would have been approximately 25%.

Youth culture 18. Properly recognised group.19. Television – Westerns (The Lone Ranger and Rawhide). Police

drama - Z Cars fictional town called NewtownFamily 20. Nuclear structure the norm.

21. Divorce was easier in 1960s but single parents were frowned upon.22. Family was patriarchal.

Characters Features of form Themes Motifs1. Mrs

JohnstoneNaïve, loving and maternal, caring, rash, strong, generous, good, selfless, uneducated, superstitious, lively, zesty, trapped, victim, helplessness,

1. A didactic play A drama which intends to teach, especially with regard to morals.

1. Class 1. Guns

2. Tragedy An event causing great suffering, destruction and distress.

2. Nature vs. nurture

2. Dancing

3. Parallels and contrasts

Parallels – similarities. Contrasts – differences.

3. Parents and children

3. Marilyn Monroe

4. Mrs Lyons Lonely, cold, wealthy, dependent, inconsiderate, pampered, self-centred, manipulative, over-protective, anxious, unreasonable, mad

4. Narrator A person who gives the spoken account of something. Omniscient to remind the audience about the ending of the play.

4. Growing up

5. Stage directions An instruction in the text of the play indicating the movement, the position or tone of an actor, or the sound effects and lighting.

5. Fate and superstition

5. Mickey Friendly, excitable, adventurous, sneaky, cast-off, wants to impress, shy, determined, bright, witty, hard-working, ambitious, trapped, victim

6. Song A single work of music that is typically intended to be sung by the human voice. It is through the songs that the characters reveal their true thoughts and feelings.

6. Friendship Identity

7. Dialogue A conversation between two or more people.

7. Gender

7. Edward Friendly, generous, naïve, restricted, impulsive, lacks compassion, condescending, sneaky

8. Montage A series of short sequences are edited into a sequence to condense space.

8. Sammy Aggressive, threatening, sarcastic, anti-social, criminal, hostile

9. Foreshadowing A warning or indication of a future event.

10. Symbols and motifs

A thing that represents or stands for something else. A motif is a dominant or recurring image of idea.

10. Linda Kind, compassionate, feisty, humorous, strong-willed, supportive, protective, poor, untrustworthy, desperate

11. Accent and dialect versus Standard English

Standard English is any form of the English Language that is accepted as a national norm. Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language. Dialect is a particular form of language which is peculiar to a specific range or social group.

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English Department

Y10 T4-6 - Pupil assessment sheet – Blood BrothersExtending Mastering Learning

AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts demonstrating that you can maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response and use textual references, including

quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.I can construct an assured response, showing a high level of engagement with the text using discerning references.

I can construct a relevant personal response which is soundly related to the text with focused supporting textual references.

I can construct a simple response although there is little personal response and little relevant supporting reference to the text.

I can construct a response that is developed with maturity, shows a perceptive understanding and interpretation and makes use of discerning references to the text.

I can construct a response using an appropriate critical style, with comments showing a sound interpretation with focused supporting textual details.

I can construct a response although there is little evidence of a critical style with little relevant supporting reference to the text.

I can construct a developed personal response showing a thorough engagement which is fully related to the text and draws upon well-chosen references.

I can construct a response that is largely narrative but has some elements of a personal response with some reference to the text.

I can construct a response that uses a critical style which is sustained and demonstrates well-developed interpretation using well-chosen references to the text.

I can construct a response with some evidence of a critical style and some reference to the text.

AO3: show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written in.

I can demonstrate an excellent understanding of relevant contexts.

I can offer sound comments on the relevant contexts.

I can construct a response although little awareness of the relevant contexts is shown.

I can convincingly integrate my understanding of the relationship between the text and its context.

I can make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.

I can offer little comment on the relationship between text and context.

I can sustain my comments on the relevant contexts.

I can show some awareness of relevant contexts.

I can demonstrate a detailed awareness of the relationship between the text and its context.

I can make some comment on the relationship between text and context.

SPaGHigh performance – I can spell and punctuate with consistent accuracy, and consistently use vocabulary and sentence structures to achieve effective control of meaning.

Intermediate performance – I can spell and punctuate with considerable accuracy, and use a considerable range of vocabulary and sentence structures to achieve general control of meaning.

Threshold performance – I can spell and punctuate with reasonable accuracy, and use a reasonable range of vocabulary and sentence structures with any errors not hindering the meaning in my response.

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Learning episode 1Learning goals

To explore the purpose of the prologue and the intended effect on the audience.I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What are we learning?

AO2: Key features of formAO3: Link between context and the text

Understand the term ‘prologue’ (L)Explain the function of the prologue from Blood Brothers. (M)Assess how far the prologue introduces the didactic nature of the play, exploring the influence of Willy Russell’s life growing up on his writing (E)

A Christmas Carol revisionRecap questions:

1. Whose death are we told about at the beginning of A Christmas Carol?

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2. What is Scrooge’s attitude towards Christmas?

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3. Bob Cratchit works for Scrooge. How is Bob treated as an employee?

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4. What is the name of Scrooge’s nephew?

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5. How is Scrooge’s nephew different to Scrooge?

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6. What do the two gentlemen who call on Scrooge want?

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7. How does Scrooge respond?

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loguedenoting discourse

New knowledge: what is an overture?An overture is an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera or a play. The overture helps to create the tone ahead of an opera or a play which helps to prepare the audience for what they are about to see.

Pen to paper: what kind of tone or atmosphere is created during the overture? How might this prepare the audience for the drama they are about to view?

As we listen to the overture, jot down key words to describe the tone of the piece.

Challenge question: what kind of play do you think this might be preparing us for?

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New knowledge: what is a prologue?After the overture, our play, Blood Brothers, begins with a prologue.

Prologue: a separate introductory section of a literary, dramatic or musical work.

There are four main reasons why a play begins with a prologue:

1. To provide background information for the audience2. To establish the tone and the setting of the story3. To hook the audience in to the story4. To introduce characters and conflicts.

New knowledge: what is the prologue in Blood Brothers?

MRS. JOHNSTONE Tell me it's not trueSay it's just a story

NARRATOR So did y' hear the storyOf the Johnstone twins?As like each other as two new pinsOf one womb born, on the self-same day,How one was kept and one given away?

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ProFrom Latin, meaning in front of

An' did you never hear how the Johnstones died,Never knowing that they shared one name,Till the day they died, when a mother criedMy own dear sons lie slain.

The Lights come up to show a re-enactment of the final moments of the play – the deaths of MICKEY and EDWARD. The scene fades.

MRS JOHNSTONE enters with her back to the audience.

An did y' never hear of the mother so cruel,There's a stone in place of her heart?Then bring her on and come judge for yourselvesHow she came to play this part.

The NARRATOR exits. Music is heard as MRS JOHNSTONE turns and walks towards us. She is aged thirty but looks more like fifty.

Pen to paper: what is the function of the prologue in Blood Brothers?

The function How is this true for the prologue to Blood Brothers?

To provide background information for the audience.To establish the tone and setting of the story.

To hook the audience in to the story.

To introduce characters and conflicts.

Pen to paper: why did Willy Russell give away the ending of the play in the prologue?

Right from the outset we learn that the Johnstone twins die. Doesn’t this spoil the ending for us? If the ending has already been given away, what reason do we have for reading the play?

An did y' never hear of the mother so cruel,6

There's a stone in place of her heart?Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves

How she came to play this part.

1. What did Mrs Johnstone do?___________________________________________________________________

2. Why might someone argue that Mrs Johnstone is ‘cruel’ and that ‘there is a stone in place of her heart’?

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3. But Willy Russell makes a plea to the audience – come judge for yourselves – why do you think Willy Russell says this?

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New knowledge: Willy Russell’s play is didactic.A play that is didactic is a play that intends to teach people something, especially a moral lesson.

Willy Russell wanted to teach his audiences about injustice. Let’s learn more about Willy Russell.

Willy Russell was born in 1947 into a working-class family near Liverpool. The world he creates in Blood Brothers reflects the kind of world he grew up in. His mother worked as a nurse and then in a warehouse. His father had a variety of jobs, mostly working shifts, so was frequently absent from young Willy’s life. His father’s jobs ranged from working down the mines to managing a fish and chip shop.

Russell, an only child, was raised in an environment surrounded by women – while his mother and his grandmother and aunts ‘gabbed away’ in the kitchen, he would sit under the table, absorbed in their conversations. Although raised in a household that encouraged reading, Russell left school at 15 with only one ‘O’ level and became a women’s hairdresser. By the age of 20 he felt the need to return to education and, after graduating from university, became a teacher at a comprehensive school in his home city.

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Willy Russell said:

I was brought up as a member of a class whose members were treated like second-class citizens. I was aware from a very early age of the injustice of it. We were the ones who went into the mines and factories, who did the manual labour, whose sensitivities were blunted, whose intelligence was never acknowledged. I lived in an environment where we were told every day of our lives that we were thick, daft, stupid and unworthy. My father had been a miner and then worked for ICI. He was not a party member or a tub-thumping socialist but he was very firmly on the side of the underdog. He'd often bring home people who were not waifs and strays exactly but people who had suffered some kind of misfortune. My dad gravitated towards interesting talkers, and he liked nothing better on a Saturday night than to have a heated discussion with three or four people on politics or religion. He was part of that socialist tradition. At eighteen he went to night school because he knew he had never learned much at school and in fact he became a very good mathematician. Like many people of his generation his life would have been fantastically different if he'd been born into my generation or into a different class, which is what Blood Brothers is all about.

ReflectionIf we were to re-read the ending of the prologue, how might our understanding of this be affected after learning more about Willy Russell?

MRS JOHNSTONEAn did y' never hear of the mother so cruel,

There's a stone in place of her heart?Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves

How she came to play this part.

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Ideas

Now write a short response, explaining how the prologue sets up the didactic nature of the play. Think about the following key questions before writing your response:

1. Why does Willy Russell reveal the ending?2. How does the prologue introduce the didactic nature of the play? Which line is

key in doing this?3. What is it that Willy Russell wants to teach people?4. Why does he want people to be more educated about this? Think about his

own experiences.

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The narrator The narrator is omniscient. An omniscient narrator is detached and sees and knows everything. Such a narrator is often described as ‘God-like.’

In the prologue, the narrator introduces the story. He also suggests that society has judged Mrs Johnstone ‘So did y’ hear the story / of the Johnstone twins? / ‘An’ did y’ never hear of the mother so cruel’ but that the play will present another side of the story ‘Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves.’

NARRATOR So did y' hear the storyOf the Johnstone twins?

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As like each other as two new pinsOf one womb born, on the self-same day,How one was kept and one given away? An' did you never hear how the Johnstones died,Never knowing that they shared one name,Till the day they died, when a mother criedMy own dear sons lie slain.

An did y' never hear of the mother so cruel,There's a stone in place of her heart?Then bring her on and come judge for yourselvesHow she came to play this part.

The idea of a Chorus (or Narrator) that comments on the action is an established literary tradition, stretching back to Ancient Greek times. For example, the most powerful effects of one of the most famous Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex, depends on the audience knowing what will happen. Shakespeare also used this device in Romeo and Juliet when we learnt the fate of the ‘star-crossed lovers.’ The narrator in Blood Brothers is used to heighten the tension as he acts as a reminder of what is to come with the audience focused on the when, why and how the twins will die.

Key questions:

1. What is an omniscient narrator?2. In what ways would you say the narrator in Blood Brothers is God-like?3. Where did this literary tradition of having a narrator stem from?4. What is the purpose of the narrator in Blood Brothers and how does the

narrator help the audience?

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Learning episode 2Learning goals

Analyse the reference to Marilyn Monroe at the start of the play and comment upon its 10

significance in helping to present the character of Mrs Johnstone I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What are we learning?

AO2: feature of form

AO3: the significance of context

Understand who Marilyn Monroe was (L)Understand what a motive is (L)Explain what we can infer about Mrs Johnstone from the use of the motif (M)Analyse the character’s own perception of themselves through the use of the motif (M/E)Evaluate the significance of the motif in presenting Mrs Johnstone at the start of the musical. (E)

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What is an overture?

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2. What is a prologue?

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3. What are the four functions of a prologue?

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4. What do we learn from the prologue in Blood Brothers?

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5. What is a didactic play?

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6. How did Willy Russell’s own life experiences influence his writing of the prologue?

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A Christmas Carol revision

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Finish the following quotations taken from Stave One of ‘A Christmas Carol’

1. Marley was…

2. Scrooge was his…

3. Oh! But he…

4. As solitary as…

5. But what did…

6. Scrooge had a very small fire,

7. What’s Christmas time to you but

8. I have always thought of Christmas time as…

9. Are there no

10. I can’t afford to make

11. If they would rather do it

12. It was with great astonishment

Pen to paper: who was Marilyn Monroe?Begin by writing down everything you already know about Marilyn Monroe. If your knowledge is limited, what can you infer about Marilyn Monroe from the video?

New knowledge: what is a motif? Where does the first occurrence of the 12

motif of Marilyn Monroe appear?A motif is a recurring idea, feature or symbol that reinforces a theme, tells us more about a character of prepares us for what will happen later in the play.

There are fourteen references to Marilyn Monroe across the play.

Marilyn Monroe was a very famous Hollywood actress whose image was (and still it) well known, even to people who did not watch her films. She was presented by the media as a kind of ‘perfect’ fantasy woman and she appeared to live a glamourous and carefree lifestyle, even being a close, personal friend of the President of the United States. She was the envy of women and the dream girl for every man – the epitome of Hollywood glamour. She was a true iconic figure.

(Study and Revise for GCSE: Blood Brothers)

The first time there is a reference to Marilyn Monroe in ‘Blood Brothers’ is when we first meet Mrs Johnstone.

MRS. JOHNSTONE Once I had a husbandYou know the sort of chap,I met him at a danceAnd how he came on with the chat He said my eyes were deep blue poolsMy skin as soft as snow. He told me I was sexier than Marilyn Monroe

And we went dancing.We went dancing.

Then, of course, I foundThat I was six weeks overdue. We got married at the registry.An' then we had a "do". We all had curly salmon sandwichesAn' how the ale did flow. They said the bride was lovelier than Marilyn Monroe.

And we went dancing, Yes, we went dancing.

Then the baby came along.We called himThen three months on I found that I was in the club again. An' though I still fancied dancing.My husband wouldn't go. With a wife he said was twice the size of Marilyn Monroe.

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No more dancingNo more dancing.

By the time I was twenty-fiveI looked like forty-two.With seven hungry mouths to feedAnd one more nearly due Me husband, he walked out on meA month or two ago. For a girl they say who looks a bit like Marilyn Monroe.

And they go dancing.They go dancing.

Yes, they go dancing,They go..

Pen to paper: What do the references to Marilyn Monroe in the song imply about Mrs Johnstone?

Identify the references to Marilyn Monroe in the chart below. Once you have identified the references – when combined how has Marilyn Monroe’s image been used to present Mrs Johnstone to us at the start of the play? What can we infer about her character?

Reference to Marilyn Monroe What can we infer about the character of Mrs Johnstone as a result of the references to Marilyn Monroe?

As Mrs Johnstone looks retrospectively at her life, what mood is evoked and why? 14

How does this make the comparison to Marilyn Monroe even more significant?

ReflectionWhat message do you think Russell is trying to convey at the start of the play by comparing Mrs Johnstone to Marilyn Monroe?

Use the following notes to help you construct a response.

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Learning episode 315

Learning goalsTo explore the significance of class both in the 1950s and in today’s modern society.

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?

AO3: the significance of context

Identify the three social classes and explain some of the key determiners. (L)Explain what attitudes towards working class people were like during the 50s. (M)Consider whether class is as relevant today as it was 50+ years ago. (M)Evaluate whether we should judge and categorise people according to their wealth (E)

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What is a motif?

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2. Who was Marilyn Monroe?

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3. What comparisons are drawn between Marilyn Monroe and Mrs Johnstone?

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4. What can we infer about Mrs Johnstone as a result?

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5. How does this help to evoke sympathy for the character of Mrs Johnstone at the start of the musical?

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A Christmas Carol revisionOne of the major themes of A Christmas Carol is Christmas – genius!

Using the chart on the next page, identify four examples of where Christmas features in A Christmas Carol. Bonus points if you can also remember a quotation!

Bigger picture: why is Christmas so important in ‘A Christmas Carol’?

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Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

Pen to paper: what does this picture symbolise?

New knowledge: the class systemOne of the key themes at the heart of the musical, and at the heart of Willy Russell’s life, that of the class system. His belief is that social class can determine the course of your life.

Social class, also called class, is a group of people with the same socioeconomic status. The term ‘class’ first came into wide use in the early 19th century, replacing

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such terms as ‘rank’ and ‘order’ as descriptions of the major hierarchical groupings in society.

Originally there were three classes:

The upper class determined by

possession of largely inherited wealth ownership of large amounts of property. ability to pursue a range of cultural pursuits and leisure activities. Influence on economic and political policy and decisions Superior educational opportunities for their children

The middle class determined by

Technical and professional occupations Self-employed workers such as small-scale shopkeepers At the bottom – routine and poorly paid jobs

The working class determined by

Low paid, low skills, non-unionized jobs Lack of property Dependency on wages Low living standards Restricted access to higher education

New knowledge: what were attitudes towards the working class like?

Beware the working class

A classless society? The assumed characteristics of each social group still exert an exotic fascination, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column for the Magazine. My mother always encouraged me to think of the working class as an

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alien species. So when in the late 1950s I took a job as a librarian and was posted to a branch in the middle of one of Liverpool's most solidly working class areas, she used to wave me off in the morning with a nervousness that would have been more appropriate in someone dispatching an Amazonian explorer. At the time I largely shared her concern. I had, after all, listened for years to her warnings about the dark and dangerously contagious aspects of working class life. I knew that working-class people were "rough" and "tough" and sometimes "uncouth". I knew that they washed rather less frequently than people like ourselves and our neighbours. I knew that they were often addicted to gambling and drinking. I knew that they used bad language, made a great deal of noise in the street, spent a lot of time scrubbing their front door steps, had broad and often incomprehensible accents, and were inclined to beat their own children. I can still remember the apprehension I felt on my first day at the library as I stood behind the waist-high counter and waited to attend to my first borrower. What would the natives make of their new colonial visitor? Would they make fun of my carefully pressed John Collier suit? Would they perhaps mock my accent or my patterns of speech? Would they laugh at my lankiness? Worse still, would they threaten to start a fight when I politely asked them to pay an outstanding fine? Some of my presentiments turned out to be well founded. A few of the borrowers, particularly the children, used to giggle when I spoke and I was asked more than once where I got my suit. Nobody started a fight over a fine but one day an irate woman came in and threw two overdue books in my face and told me that if she had any more warning letters she'd come in again and "do me over". However, after a few months in the library I felt sufficiently attuned to my new environment to risk popping across the road to The Admiral pub for a lunch-time half-pint of Walker's Warrington Ale. But there was never anything that amounted to real fraternisation between myself and my fellow drinkers. I was never bought a pint, or

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The working class constituted

a proper subject for anthropological investigation, but my own middle-classness was so essentially normative that it required no such examination

The twain not meeting

invited to anyone's house, or given any news or gossip about the area. There was always a tacit recognition that we came from two sides of a great divide. I might only be the lanky boy from the library across the road, but I was still "one of them", one of the class that they usually only encountered when they were being assessed for possible housing allocation, or benefits, or employment. And the middle class My memories of the distinctiveness of the working class at that point in history came flooding back as I read a new paper by Selina Todd on the research which sociologists carried out in the slums of Liverpool during the late 1950s. Research which rested on very much the same assumption with which I'd approached my working class library users - the assumption that they constituted a proper subject for anthropological investigation, while my own middle-classness was so essentially normative that it required no such academic examination. I did once ask a man in the Admiral what it was like to work on the docks. When he shrugged and muttered something about it being alright as long as you had the right cargo to work on, I asked, very tentatively, if there was any way I could come down and see some of the ships close up. He looked at me for a second and said: "You'll have to get some ____ on your shoes first." I chose not to mention the matter to my mother.

New knowledge: is class as relevant today as it was nearly 50 years ago?

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Careful of your shoes, Prime Minister

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zInIRiBOp44

ReflectionHaving learnt more about the class system in this learning episode, to what extent do you think it is right to categorise people according to their wealth?

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Living on ‘welfare’ – poverty in the 50s, 60s and 70s

Based on what you can see in these photographs, write 3 sentences to describe life for some in Liverpool, and cities like it, in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Class division was never more apparent than during the 1970s and 1980s when the country suffered a recession. This led to wide-scale unemployment with almost a third of working age men unemployed. Liverpool, where the play is set, became an unemployment black spot during this time and most definitely inspired aspects of Blood Brothers. In the 1960s up to 28 per cent were on the poverty line.

Because of unemployment there was a housing crisis. Poor housing conditions increased, especially in the cities were people were more hopeful that work could be found. In the poorer areas, families could be found huddled in dark and unsanitary courts of squalid housing often without facilities and natural light. Concerns were raised by the middle classes about public health and their fear of infectious diseases spreading from the overcrowded and insanitary working-class housing.

In 1968, the government created a new department called the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS). It introduced supplementary benefits to top up existing benefits. Between 1951 and 1980, the number of people receiving some kind of social welfare rose from 1.5 million to 3.3 million.

Key question: we already know that Mrs Johnstone is a single mum raising a large family. What predictions can you make about her lifestyle after reading the information above?

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Learning episode 4Learning goals

To be able to analyse how the working class are presented and how this compares to the presentation of the middle class.

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1:

Inference and

interpretationAO3: The

significance of context

Define the term ‘nuclear’ family and predict how people might view Mrs Johnstone as a single parent.Identify key details in the text that show an understanding of attitudes towards the working class during the time in which the play was set.Compare and contrast the presentation of Mrs Johnstone (who is working class) and Mrs Lyons (who is middle class) Evaluate the phrase ‘money doesn’t buy you happiness’ with reference to Mrs Lyons and A Christmas Carol.

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What are the three main social classes?

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2. What were attitudes towards social class during the 1950s?

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3. Is class as relevant today as it was in the 50s/60s?

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A Christmas Carol revisionRecap questions:

1. When Marley’s Ghost appears, what is he carrying and what is it made up of?

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2. How does Scrooge react / respond to Marley’s Ghost?

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3. What regret does Marley’s Ghost have?

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4. Why has Marley’s Ghost come to visit Scrooge?

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5. What information does Marley’s Ghost provide Scrooge with?

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New knowledge: nuclear familiesNuclear families were common during the 1960s. A nuclear family is a family group consisting of two parents and their children. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, to the larger extended family, and to a family with more than two parents. Marriages may have lasted longer in the 1950s, but divorces were difficult to obtain and frowned upon by society. The swinging sixties, however, saw huge social changes and the introduction of the Divorce Reform Act in 1969. As a result, UK divorce rates soared between the 1970s and the early 1990s to become some of the highest in the world.In the mid-20th century, if you fell pregnant when unmarried it was seen as shameful.

Pen to paper: based upon your reading above, how do you think people might view Mrs Johnstone?

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New knowledgeIn this section we are shown Mrs Johnstone’s family life at the start of the play.

An irate MILKMAN (the NARRATOR) rushes in to rudely interrupt the song.

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MILKMANListen love, I’m up to here with hard luck stories; you own me three pounds, seventeen and fourpence an’ either you pay up today, like now, or I’ll be forced to cut off your deliveries.

MRS JOHNSTONEI said, I said, look, next week I’ll pay y’…

MILKMANNext week, next week! Next week never arrives around here. I’d be a rich man if next week ever came.

MRS JOHNSTONEBut look, look, I start a job next week. I’ll have money comin’ in an’ I’ll be able to pay y’. Y’ can’t stop the milk. I need the milk. I’m pregnant.

MILKMANWell, don’t look at me, love. I might be a milkman but it’s got nothin’ to do with me. Now you’ve been told, no money, no milk.

The MILKMAN exits.MRS JOHNSTONE stands alone and we hear some of her kids, off.

KID ONE (off)Mam, Man the baby’s cryin’. He wants his bottle. Where’s the milk?

KID TWO (off)‘Ey Mam, how come I’m on free dinners? All the other kids laugh at me.

KID THREE (off)‘Ey Mother, I’m starvin’ an’ there’s nothin’ in. There never bloody well is.

MRS JOHNSTONE (perfunctorily)Don’t swear, I’ve told y’

KID FOUR (off)Mum, I can’t sleep, I’m hungry, I’m starvin’…

KIDS (off)An’ me, Mam. An’ me. An’ me.

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MRS JOHNSTONE (singing)I know it’s hard on all you kids,But try and get some sleep.Next week I’ll be earning’,We’ll have loads of things to eat,We’ll have ham, an’ jam, an’ spam an’(speaking)Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddin’, Battenberg Cake, Chicken an’ Chips, Corned Beef, Sausages, Treacle Tart, Mince an’ Spuds, Milk Shake for the Baby:

There is a chorus of groaning ecstasy from the KIDS.

MRS JOHNSTONE (picks up the tune again)When I bring home the dough,We’ll live like kings, like bright young things,Like Marilyn Monroe.And we’ll go dancing…

Pen to paper: what was it like to be working class during the 1950s/1960s?Use the extract above to help you track what life was like for Mrs Johnstone at the start of the play as a member of the working class and with a family to provide for.

Attitude of the milkman towards Mrs Johnstone

How does being working class affect Mrs Johnstone’s ability to provide and take care of her family?

What impression do we form of Mrs Johnstone in this scene?

What dreams and desires does Mrs Johnstone have for herself and her family?

27

New knowledgeIn this scene, Mrs Johnstone has secured a job working for Mrs Lyons.

MRS JOHNSTONE hums a few bars of the song, and dances a few steps, as she makes her way to her place of work – MRS LYONS’ house. During the dance she acquires a brush, dusters and a mop bucket.MRS LYONS’ house where MRS JOHNSTONE is working. MRS LYONS enters, carrying a parcel.

MRS LYONSHello, Mrs Johnstone, how are you? Is the job working out all right for you?

MRS JOHNSTONEIt’s, erm, great. Thank you. It’s such a lovely house it’s a pleasure to clean.

MRS LYONSIt’s a pretty house isn’t it? It’s a pity it’s so big. I’m finding it rather large at present.

MRS JOHNSTONEOh. Yeh. With Mr Lyons being away an’ that? When does he come back, Mrs Lyons?

MRS LYONSOh, it seems such a long time. The Company sent him out there for nine months, so, what’s that, he’ll be back in about five months time.

MRS JOHNSTONEAh, you’ll be glad when he’s back won’t you? The house won’t feel so empty them, will it?

MRS LYONS begins to unwrap her parcel.

MRS LYONSActually, Mrs J, we bought such a large house for the – for the children – we thought children would come along.

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MRS JOHNSTONEWell y’might still be able to…

MRS LYONSNo, I’m afraid…We’ve been trying for such a long time now…I wanted to adopt but…Mr Lyons is…well he says he wanted his own son, not someone else’s. Myself, I believe that an adopted child can become one’s own.

MRS JOHNSTONEAh yeh…yeh. Ey, it’s weird thought, isn’t it. Here’s you can’t have kids, an’ me, I can’t stop havin’ them. Me husband used to say that all we had to do was shake hands and I’d be in the club. He must have shook hands with me before he left. I’m havin’ another one y’know.

MRS LYONSOh, I see…

MRS JOHNSTONEOh but look, look it’s alright, Mrs Lyons, I’ll still be able to do me work. Havin’ babies, it’s like clockwork to me. I’m back on me feet an’ workin’ the next day y’know. If I have this one at the weekend I won’t even need to take one day off. I love this job, y’know. We can just manage to get by now –

Pen to paper: compare and contrast the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. To what extent are the characters similar and different?

Use the Venn diagram below to identify how the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are different (outer parts of the circle) and how the characters of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are similar (where the circles overlap).

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ReflectionWe have learnt a lot about the working class during the time the play was set and beyond. However, despite having a lot of money, Mrs Johnstone doesn’t seem as happy as we might expect her to be. What is preventing her from being blissfully happy?

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Is the phrase ‘money doesn’t buy you happiness’ true then? Why?

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Challenge question: in what ways does this idea connect with A Christmas Carol? Are Mrs Johnstone and Bob Cratchit comparable? Are Mrs Lyons and Scrooge comparable?

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Learning episode 5Learning goals

To explore the theme of superstition in the play ‘Blood Brothers’I think I can To be extending, we need to be able to What am I

learning today?

AO1: Inference and interpretation

Define what a superstition is Explain where superstitions originateExplain the first superstition that features in Blood Brother and its significance.Consider the use of the superstition as a dramatic device

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What clues are there in the text that reveal Mrs Johnstone to be working class?

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2. How are attitudes towards working class people revealed through the characterisation of the milkman?

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3. Why is Mrs Johnstone hopeful things are going to improve for her family?

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4. How are Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons different?

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5. How are Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons similar?

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6. What evidence is there to suggest that money doesn’t make you happy at the start of Blood Brothers?

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A Christmas Carol revisionFinish the following quotations taken from Stave One of ‘A Christmas Carol’

1. The chain he drew was

2. It was long, and

3. ..and it was made of

4. I wear the chain

5. I made it

6. Business!

7. You will be haunted32

New knowledge: superstitionsSuperstitions can be defined as irrational beliefs, especially with regard to the unknown. But where do superstitions derive from?

Pen to paper: what further superstitions can you think of?

New knowledgeLet’s now see how superstition first features in Blood Brothers.

She is stopped by MRS LYONS putting the contents of the package, a pair of new shoes, on to the table.

Jesus Christ, Mrs Lyons, what are y’ trying to do?

MRS LYONS

33

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-do-superstitions-come-from-stuart-vyse#watch

My God, what’s wrong?

MRS JOHNSTONEThe shoes…the shoes…

MRS LYONSPardon?

MRS JOHNSTONENew shoes on the table, take them off.

MRS LYONS does so.(Relieved) Oh God, Mrs Lyons, never put new shoes on a table…You never know what’ll happen.

MRS LYONS (twigging it; laughing)Oh…you mean you’re superstitious?

MRS JOHNSTONENo, but you never put new shoes on the table.

MRS LYONSOh go on with you. Look, if it will make you any happier I’ll put them away…

MRS LYONS exits with the shoes.Music is heard as MRS JOHNSTONE warily approaches the table and the NARRATOR enters.

NARRATORThere’s shoes upon the table an’ a joker in the pack, The salt’s been spilled and a looking glass cracked,There’s one lone magpie overhead.

MRS JOHNSTONEI’m not superstitious.

NARRATORThe Mother said.

MRS JOHNSTONEI’m not superstitious

NARRATORThe Mother said.

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New knowledge: new shoes on a tableAccording to superstition in the UK, you should never put new shoes on a table as it symbolises death of a family member. Many years ago, when a miner passed away, his shoes would be placed on a table and this is often how his family would find out about his death. Due to this, people started to believe that putting shoes on a table was tempting fate (doing something risky or dangerous and relying on luck).

It is not clear why people specifically don’t put NEW shoes on a table, but one reason could be that when people used to buy new shoes, there were nails holding the shoes together. If they were put on a table, the nails would scratch it.

Pen to paper1. How does Mrs Johnstone react when Mrs Lyons places new shoes on the

table?

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2. How does Mrs Lyons respond to Mrs Johnstone?

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3. Why do you think Mrs Johnstone denies being superstitious?

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4. What other superstitions does the narrator reference?

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5. What does the Narrator’s repetition of ‘The mother said’ suggest?

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ReflectionForeshadowing is a literary device used to indicate to the reader or the audience something that is to come later on in the work.

How might the reference to new shoes on the table indicate what is to come later on in the play?

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Challenge question: is foreshadowing a literary technique used in ‘A Christmas Carol’?

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Learning episode 6Learning goals

To explore how Russell has used techniques to convey the differences in character of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO2: Methods to convey meaning

Explain the pact that Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone makesIdentify examples of how language, structure and features of form are used to present Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone in this scene.Compare and contrast the methods used to present these characters and evaluate the significance of this drawing upon contextual information.

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What are superstitions?

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2. What superstition is used within the scene we read last lesson? What does this superstition represent?

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3. What is foreshadowing?

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4. How might the superstition referenced in this scene be an example of foreshadowing?

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A Christmas Carol revisionOne of the major themes of A Christmas Carol is poverty.

Using the chart on the next page, identify four examples of where poverty is referenced in A Christmas Carol. Bonus points if you can also remember a quotation!

Bigger picture: why is poverty so important in ‘A Christmas Carol’?

Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

New knowledgeIn this scene, Mrs Johnstone visits the gynaecologist for a check-up on her pregnancy and shares what she discovers with Mrs Lyons.

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The NARRATOR exits to re-enter as a GYNAECOLOGIST.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat are you doin’ here? The milk bill’s not due ‘till Thursday.

GYNAECOLOGIST (producing a listening funnel)Actually I’ve given up the milk round and gone into medicine. I’m your gynaecologist. (He begins to examine her) Ok, Mummy, let’s have a little listen to the baby’s ticker, shall we?

MRS JOHNSTONEI was dead worried about havin’ another baby, you know, Doctor. I didn’t see how we were gonna manage with another mouth to feed. But now I’ve got me a little job we’ll be OK. If I’m careful we can just scrape by, even with another mouth to feed.

The GYNAECOLOGIST completes his examination.

GYNAECOLOGISTMouths, Mummy.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat?

GYNAECOLOGISTPlural, Mrs Johnstone. Mouths to feed. You’re expecting twins. Congratulations. And the next one please, Nurse.

The GYNAECOLOGIST exits.MRS JOHNSTONE numbed by the news, moves back to her work, dusting the table upon which the shoes had been placed.

MRS LYONS enters.

MRS. LYONSHello Mrs. J. How are you?There is no reply.(Registering the silence) Mrs. J.? Anything wrong?

MRS. JOHNSTONE I had it all worked out.

MRS LYONS

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What’s the matter?

MRS JOHNSTONEWe were just getting straight.

MRS LYONSWhy don’t you sit down?

MRS JOHNSTONEWith one more baby we could have managed. But not with two. The Welfare have already been on to me. They say I’m incapable of controllin’ the kids I’ve already got. They say I should put some of them into care. But I won’t. I love the bones of every one of them. I’ll even love these two when they come along. But like they say at the Welfare, kids can’t live on love alone.

MRS. LYONSTwins? You're expecting twins?

The NARRATOR enters

NARRATOR How quickly an idea, planted, canTake root and grow into a plan.The thought conceived in this very roomGrew as surely as a seed, in a mother's womb.

The NARRATOR exits.

MRS. LYONS (almost inaudibly)Give one of them to me.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat?

MRS LYONS (containing her excitement)Give one of them to me.

MRS JOHNSTONEGive one to you?

MRS LYONSYes..yes.

MRS JOHNSTONE (taking it almost as a joke)39

But y’can’t just…

MRS LYONSWhen are you due?

MRS JOHNSTONEErm, well about…Oh, but Mrs…

MRS LYONSQuickly, quickly tell me…when are you due?

MRS JOHNSTONEJuly he said, the beginning of…

MRS LYONSJuly…and my husband doesn’t get back until, the middle of July. He need never guess…

MRS JOHNSTONE (amused)Oh, it’s mad.

MRS LYONSI know, it is. It’s mad…but it’s wonderful, it’s perfect. Look, look, you’re what, four months pregnant, but you’re only just beginning to show…so, so I’m four months pregnant and I’m only just beginning to show. (She grabs a cushion and arranges it beneath her dress). Look, look. I could have got pregnant just before he went away. But I didn’t tell him in case I miscarried, I didn’t want to worry him whilst he was away. But when he arrives home I tell him we were wrong, the doctors were wrong. I have a baby, our baby. Mrs Johnstone, it will work, it will if only you’ll…

MRS JOHNSTONEOh, Mrs Lyons, you can’t be serious.

MRS LYONSYou said yourself, you said you had too many children already.

MRS JOHNSTONEYeh, but I don’t know if I wanna give one away.

MRS LYONSAlready you’re being threatened by the Welfare people. Mrs Johnstone, with two more children how can you possibly avoid some of them being put into care? Surely, it’s better to give

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one child to me. Look, at least if the child was with me you’d be able to see him every day, as you came to work.

MRS LYONS stares at MRS JOHNSTONE, willing her to agree.

Please, Mrs Johnstone. Please.

MRS JOHNSTONEAre y’…are y’ that desperate to have a baby?

Pen to paper: how does Willy Russell use language and structural features to present Mrs Lyon’s determination for the pact to go ahead and Mrs

Johnstone’s reluctance?Willy Russell uses language, structural features and features of form to present the relationship between Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone as they discuss the future of Mrs Johnstone’s babies. Let’s look at this in more detail now.

What does Mrs Lyons say?

What technique is used and how does

it reveal her determination?

What does Mrs Johnstone say?

What technique is used and how does

it reveal her reluctance?

Give one to me. What?

Quickly, quickly tell me.

Give one to you?

Mrs Johnstone, it will work, it will if only you’ll

But y’ can’t just…Erm…well about…Oh, but Mrs…

You said yourself, you have too many children already.

Oh, it’s mad.

Already you are being threatened by the Welfare people. Mrs Johnstone, with two more children, how can you

Oh Mrs Lyons you can’t be serious.

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possibly avoid some of them going into care?Please, Mrs Johnstone, please

Challenge question: what do you notice about the language used by both Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone? What does it reveal about the nature of their relationship?

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New knowledge

MRS LYONS (singing)Each day I look out from this window, I see him with his friends, I hear him call,I rush down but as I fold my arms around him,He’s gone. Was he ever there at all?I’ve dreamed of all the places I would take him,The games we’d play the stories I would tell,The jokes we’d share, the clothing I would make him,I reach out. But as I do. He fades away.

The melody shifts into that of MRS JOHNSTONE who is looking at MRS LYONS, feeling for her. MRS LYONS gives a half smile and a shrug, perhaps slightly embarrassed at what she has revealed. MRS JOHNSTONE turns and looks at the room she is in. Looking up in awe at the comparative opulence and ease of the place. Tentatively and wondering she sings

MRS JOHNSTONEIf my child was raised In a palace like this one,(He) wouldn’t have to worry whereHis next meal was comin’ from.His clothing would be (supplied by)George Henry Lee.

MRS LYONS sees that MRS JOHNSTONE might be persuaded.42

MRS LYONS (singing)He’d have all his own toysAnd a garden to play in.

MRS JOHNSTONEHe could make too much noiseWithout the neighbours complainin.’

MRS LYONS Silver trays to take meals on

MRS JOHNSTONE A bike with both wheels on?

MRS LYONS nods enthusiastically.

MRS LYONS And he’d sleep every nightIn a bed of his own.

MRS JOHNSTONEHe wouldn’t get into fightsHe’d leave matches alone.And you’d never find himEffin’ and blindin’.And when he grew upHe could never be toldTo stand and queue upFor hours on end at the doleHe’d grow up to be

MRS LYONS AND MRS JOHNSTONE togetherA credit to me.

MRS JOHNSTONE To you.

MRS. JOHNSTONE I would still be able to see him everyday, wouldn't I?

MRS. LYONSOf course.

MRS. JOHNSTONE An'.... An' you would look after him, wouldn't y'?

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MRS. LYONS (singing)I'd keep him warm in the WinterAnd cool when it shinesI'd pull out his splintersWithout making him cryI'd always be thereIf his dream became a nightmare

MRS. JOHNSTONE & MRS. LYONSMy childMy child

There is a pause before MRS JOHNSTONE nods. MRS LYONS goes across and kisses her, hugs her. MRS JOHNSTONE is slightly embarrassed.

Oh. Now you must help me. There’s so much…I’ll have to… (She takes out the cushion.) We’ll do this properly so it’s thoroughly convincing, and I’ll need to see you walk, and baby clothes, I’ll have to knit and buy bottles and suffer from piles.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat?

MRS LYONSDoesn’t one get piles when one’s pregnant? And buy a cot and… Oh help me with this, Mrs J. Is it in the right place? (She puts the cushion back again.) I want it to look right before I go shopping.

MRS JOHNSTONE (helping her with the false pregnancy)What you goin’ the shops for? I do the shopping.

MRS LYONSOh no, from now on I do the shopping. I want everyone to know about my baby. (She suddenly reaches for the Bible.)

Music

MRS. LYONSWe must make this a, erm, a binding agreement. MRS LYONS shows the Bible to MRS JOHNSTONE, who is at first reluctant and then lays her hand on it.The NARRATOR enters. A bass note, repeated as a heartbeat.

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NARRATOR In the name of Jesus, the thing was done,Now there's no going back, for anyone,It's too late now for feeling tornThere's a pack been sealed.There's a deal been born.

MRS LYONS puts the Bible away. MRS JOHNSTONE stands and stares as MRS LYONS grabs shopping bags and takes a last satisfied glance at herself in the mirror.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhy…why did we have to do that?

MRS LYONSMrs J, nobody must ever know. Therefore, we have to have an agreement.

MRS JOHNSTONE nods but is still uncomfortable.

Right, I shan’t be long. Bye.

MRS LYONS exits.

MRS JOHNSTONE stands alone, afraid.The heartbeat grows in intensity.

NARRATORHow swiftly those who’ve made a pact,Can come to overlook the fact.Or wish the reckoning to be delayedBut a debt is a debt, and must be paid.

The NARRATOR exits.

Pen to paper: how does the use of the song help to present the juxtaposition of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons and the lives they could offer this baby?

Being a musical, Blood Brothers alternates between dialogue and song. The songs are just as important in conveying meaning. The song ‘My Child’ cleverly juxtaposes Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons and the life they could offer the baby. Go back through the song and identify what kind of life Mrs Johnstone would be able to offer the baby and what kind of life Mrs Lyons would be able to offer the baby.

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ReflectionTo what extent do you think Mrs Johnstone is forced into the ‘pact’ with Mrs Lyons and how far do you think class plays a part in this?

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Learning episode 7Learning goals

To be able to construct a relevant personal response which is soundly related to the text with focused supporting textual references.

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I identify a range of points to support or dismiss a statement?Can I draw upon relevant textual references to support my points?Can I make inferences and offer interpretations about a character and a situation based on my textual references?Can I offer a sound comment on the context and make relevant comments about the relationship between the text and its context?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What does Mrs Johnstone discover during her visit to the gynaecologist?

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2. What does Mrs Lyons suggest Mrs Johnstone does?

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3. How does Russell use language and structure to present Mrs Lyons as quite forceful in this scene?

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4. How does Russell use language and structure to present Mrs Johnstone as quite reluctant in this scene?

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5. What is the purpose of the song ‘My Child’?

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6. What does Mrs Lyons make Mrs Johnstone swear on and why?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Recap questions:

1. What is significant about the Ghost of Christmas Past’s appearance? Identify three key details and explain their significance.

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2. Where does the ghost of Christmas Past first take Scrooge?

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3. How does Scrooge react? Why is he reaction intriguing for a reader?

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New knowledge: Hire purchase – a path to debt?Although poverty was widespread during the 1960s in many parts of Britain this was a time of economic growth and unprecedented prosperity. High levels of employment and increasing wages meant that people had more money than ever to spend and new consumer goods such as washing machines, refrigerators, TV sets, cookers were within the reach of more households than ever before. However, many families like the Johnstones, caught in the poverty trap, were left behind, unable to afford such luxuries. The only way the poor could obtain consumer goods was through hire purchase agreements. In post war Britain Hire Purchase was booming. In 1956, the British spent £400 million on Hire purchase goods, only nine years later in 1965 the amount had tripled to £1200 million. Hire purchase is a way of paying for goods in weekly instalments. The advantage in HP agreements is that the customer receives the goods immediately and then pays off the balance.  However, there are dangers in taking out HP agreements.  Firstly, by paying in instalments people often pay far more for the goods and if payments are not kept up then the goods are repossessed even if the customer has paid off the majority of the balance. 

New knowledgeLast lesson we read as Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone made a pact that meant Mrs Johnstone would give one of her babies to Mrs Lyons. Let’s read what happens when Mrs Johnstone gives birth to the twins.

As the heartbeat reaches maximum volume it suddenly stops and is replaced by the sound of crying babies.

Two nurses appear, each carrying a bundle. A pram is wheeled on.

The nurses hand the bundles to MRS JOHNSTONE who places them smiling, into the pram. Making faces and noises at the babies she stops the crying. The babies settles, she sets off, wheeling the pram towards home.

Various debt collectors emerge from her house to confront MRS JOHNSTONE.

CATALOGUE MANI’m sorry love…the kids said you

How do the stage directions make it

clear here that Mrs Johnstone is a

natural mother?

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were at the hospital. (He looks into the pram.) Ah…they’re lovely, aren’t they? I’m sorry love, especially at a time like this, but, you are twelve weeks behind in your payments. I’ve got to do this, girl…

FINANCE MANY’ shouldn’t sign for the bloody stuff, missus. If y’know y’can’t pay, y’ shouldn’t bloody well sign.

CATALOGUE MANLook, if y’ could give me a couple of weeks’ money on this I could leave it.

MRS JOHNSTONE shakes her head.

FINANCE MANY’ shouldn’t have signed for all this stuff, should y’? Y’ knew y’ wouldn’t be able to pay, didn’t y’?

MRS JOHNSTONE (almost to herself)When I got me job, I thought I would be able to pay. When I went in the showroom I only meant to come out with a couple of things. But when you’re standing there, it all looks so nice. When y’ look in the catalogue an’ there’s six months to pay, it seems years away, an’ y’ need a few things so y’ sign.

FINANCE MANYeh, well y’ bloody well shouldn’t.

MRS JOHNSTONE (coming out of her trance; angrily)I know I shouldn’t, you soft get. I’ve spent all me bleedin’ life knowin’ I shouldn’t. But I do. Now, take y’ soddin’ wireless and get off.

How do the attitudes of the finance

man and the catalogue man towards

Mrs Johnstone differ?

Does this create frustration or

sympathy for Mrs Johnstone? Why?

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CATALOGUE MANHonest love, I’m sorry.

MRS JOHNSTONEIt’s all right lad…we’re used to it. We were in the middle of our tea one night when they arrived for the table. (She gives a wry laugh.)

CATALOGUE MANAh well as long as y’ can laugh about it, eh, that’s the main thing isn’t it?

The CATALOGUE MAN exits.

MRS JOHNSTONE (not laughing)Yeh.

Other creditors continue to enter the house and leave with goods.

MRS JOHNSTONE watches the creditors. The babies begin to cry and she moves to the pram, rocking it gently as she sings, as if to the babies in the pram (Singing) Only mine untilThe time comes roundTo pay the billThen I'm afraidWhat can't be paidMust be returnedYou never, ever learnThat nothing's yoursOn easy terms Only for a time,I must not learnTo call you mineFamiliarizeThat face those eyesMake future plansThat cannot be confirmedOn borrowed timeOn easy terms

What sense of a life do you get here for

Mrs Johnstone?

Why do you think the song is called

‘Easy Terms’?

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Living on the never never,Constant as the changing weather,Never sureWho's at the doorOr the price I'll have to payShould we meet againI will not recongize your nameYou can be sureWhat's gone beforeWill be concealedYour friends will never learnThat once we were On easy terms Living on the never never, Constant as the changing weather,Never sure Who's at the doorOr the price I'll have to pay...

How does this foreshadow what is to

come?

Pen to paper: To what extent has Mrs Johnstone found herself spiralling into the poverty trap? How do the finance man and the catalogue man respond?

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New knowledgeWith the babies born, Mrs Johnstone faces the reality of giving one of the babies away to Mrs Lyons.

MRS LYONS enters, still with the pregnancy padding.

MRS. LYONSThey're born, you didn't notify me.

MRS. JOHNSTONE

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Well I…I just…it’s…couldn’t I keep them for a few more days, please, please, they're a pair, they go together.

MRS. LYONSMy husband is due back tomorrow, Mrs. Johnstone. I must have my baby. We made an agreement, a bargain. You swore on the bible.

MRS. JOHNSTONE You'd better… you’d better see which one you want

MRS. LYONSI'll take ...

MRS. JOHNSTONE No. Don't tell me which one. Just take him, take him.

(Singing) Living on the never neverConstant as the changing weather,Never sureWho's at the doorOr the price I'll have to payShould we meet again...

MRS LYONS rapidly pulls out the padding from beneath her dress. Amongst it is a shawl which she uses to wrap around the baby before picking it up from the pram.

MRS LYONSThank you Mrs Johnstone, thank you. I’ll see you next week.

MRS JOHNSTONEI’m due back tomorrow.

MRS LYONSI know but why don’t you…why don’t you take the week off, on full pay of course.

Why do you think Mrs Lyons references the bible here?

What does this suggest about the relationship between Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone?

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MRS LYONS exits.

MRS JOHNSTONE turns and enters her house with the remaining twin in the pram.

KID ONE (off)What happened to the other twin, Mother?

KID TWO (off)Where’s the other twinny, Mam?

MRS JOHNSTONEHe’s gone. He’s gone up to heaven, love. He’s living with Jesus and the angels.

KID THREE (off)What’s it like there Mam, in heaven?

MRS JOHNSTONEIt’s lovely son, he’ll be well looked after there. He’ll have anything he wants.

KID ONE (off)Will he have his own bike?

Mrs JOHNSTONEYeh. With both wheels on.

KID ONE (off)Why can’t I have a bike?

MRS JOHNSTONEI’ll... I’ll have a look in the catalogue next week. We’ll see what the bikes are like in there.

KIDS (together, off)Mam, I want a Meccano set.You said I could have a new dress, Mother.Why can’t I have an air pistol?

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Metaphorical level

Let’s look in the catalogue now, Mam.It’s great when we look in the catalogue, Mam.Go on, let’s all look in the catalogue.

MRS JOHNSTONEI’ve told y’, when I get home, I’ve got to go to work.

Pen to paper: what is the difference between literal meaning and metaphorical interpretations?

Often quotations can work on a literal and a metaphorical level.

A literal level is when you explain what is actually meant.

A metaphorical level is exploring a deeper meaning behind what is said.

Look at the following excerpt from the scene we have just read

New knowledgeNow Mrs Lyons has her child, she starts to feel uneasy around Mrs Johnstone.

MR and MRS LYONS enter their house and we see them looking at the child in its cot.

MRS JOHNSTONE enters and immediately goes about her work.

MRS JOHNSTONE stops work for a moment and glances into the cot, beaming and cooing.

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Literal level

MRS JOHNSTONEHe’s gone. He’s gone up to heaven, love. He’s living with Jesus and the angels.

KID THREE (off)What’s it like there Mam, in heaven?

MRS JOHNSTONEIt’s lovely son, he’ll be well looked after there. He’ll have anything he wants.

MR LYONS is next to her with MRS LYONS in the background, obviously agitated at MRS JOHNSTONE’s fussing.

Aw, he’s really comin’ on now, isn’t he, Mr Lyons? I’ll bet y’ dead proud of him, aren’t y, aren’t y’, eh?

MR LYONS (good naturedly)Yes…yes I am, aren’t I Edward? I’m proud of Jennifer, too.

MR LYONS beams at his wife who can hardly raise a smile.

MRS JOHNSTONEAh…he’s lovely. (She coos into the cot.) Ah look, he wants to be picked up, I’ll just…

MRS LYONSNo, no, Mrs Johnstone. He’s fine. He doesn’t want to be picked up.

MRS JOHNSTONEAh, but look he’s gonna cry…

MRS LYONSIf he needs picking up, I shall pick him up. All right?

MRS JOHNSTONE Well I just thought, I’m sorry I…

MRS LYONSYes. Erm, has the bathroom been done? Time is getting on.

MRS JOHNSTONEOh. Yeh, yeh…

MRS JOHNSTONE exits.

MR LYONSDarling. Don’t be hard on the woman. She only wanted to hold the baby. All women

Why is Mrs Lyons finding it hard to smile?

How does Mrs Lyons reassert her power and status here?

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like to hold babies, don’t they?

MRS LYONSI don’t want her to hold the baby, Richard. She’s…I don’t want the baby to catch anything. Babies catch things very easily, Richard.

MR LYONSAll right, all right, you know best.

MRS LYONSYou don’t see her as much as I do. She’s always fussing over him; any opportunity and she’s cooing and cuddling as if she were his mother. She’s always bothering him, Richard, always. Since the baby arrived she ignores most of her work. (She is about to cry.)

MR LYONSCome on, come on…It’s all right Jennifer. You’re just a little…it’s this depression thing that happens after a woman’s had a…

MRS LYONSI’m not depressed Richard; it’s just that she makes me feel…Richard, I think she should go.

MR LYONSAnd what will you do for help in the house?

MRS LYONSI’ll find somebody else. I’ll find somebody who doesn’t spend all day fussing over the baby.

MR LYONS (glancing at his watch)Oh well, I suppose you know best. The house is your domain. Look, Jen, I’ve got a board meeting. I really must dash.

MRS LYONSRichard, can you let me have some cash?

Mrs Lyons is suggesting that Mrs Johnstone is suffocating the baby – what might be a metaphorical interpretation here?

What do you learn about gender roles here?

Again, what do you learn about gender roles here?

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MR LYONSOf course

MRS LYONSI need about fifty pounds.

MR LYONSMy God, what for?

MRS LYONSI’ve got lots of things to buy for the baby, I’ve got the nursery to sort out…

MR LYONSAll right, all right, here. (He hands her the money.) MR LYONS exits.

MRS LYONS considers what she is about to do and then calls

MRS LYONSMrs Johnstone. Mrs Johnstone, would you come out here for a moment, please.

MRS JOHNSTONE enters.

MRS JOHNSTONEYes?

MRS LYONSSit down. Richard and I have been talking over, and well the thing is, we both think it would be better if you left.

MRS JOHNSTONELeft where?

MRS LYONSIt’s your work. Your work has deteriorated.

MRS JOHNSTONEBut, I work the way I’ve always worked.

MRS LYONS What are your feelings towards Mrs Lyons at this

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Well, I’m sorry, we’re not satisfied.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat will I do? How are we gonna live without my job?

MRS LYONSYes, well we’ve thought of that. Here, here’s… (She pushes the money into MRS JOHNSTONE’s hands.) It’s a lot of money…but, well…

MRS JOHNSTONE (thinking, desperate. Trying to get it together.)Ok. All right. All right, Mrs Lyons, right. If I’m goin’, I’m takin’ my son with me, I’m takin’…

As MRS JOHNSTONE moves towards the cot MRS LYONS roughly drags her out of the way.

MRS LYONSOh no, you’re not. Edward is my son. Mine.

MRS JOHNSTONEI’ll tell someone…I’ll tell the police…I’ll bring the police in an’…

MRS LYONSNo…no you won’t. You gave your baby away. Don’t you realise what a crime that is. You’ll be locked up. You sold your baby.

MRS JOHNSTONE, horrified, sees the bundle of notes in her hand, and throws it across the room.

MRS JOHNSTONEI didn’t…you told me, you said I could see him every day. Well, I’ll tell someone, I’m gonna tell…

MRS JOHNSTONE starts to leave but MRS LYONS stops her.

point?

Identify two adjectives to describe Mrs Lyons at this point.

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MRS LYONSNo. You’ll tell nobody.

Music.

Because…because if you tell anyone…and these children learn the truth, then you know what will happen, don’t you? You do know what they say about twins, secretly parted, don’t you?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (terrified)What? What?

MRS. LYONSThey say…they say that if either twin learns that he once wasa pair, they shall both immediately die. It means, Mrs. Johnstone, that these brothers shall grow up, unaware of the other's existence. They shall be raised apart and never, ever told what was once the truth. You won't tell anyone about this, Mrs. Johnstone, because if you do, you will kill them.

NARRATOR Shoes upon the tableAn' a spider's been killed.Someone broke the lookin' glassA full moon shinin'An' the salt's been spilledYou're walking on the pavement cracksDon't know what's gonna come to passNow y'know the devil's got your numberY'know he's gonna find youY'know he's right behind youHe's starin' through your windowsHe's creeping down the hall

Ain't no point in clutchingAt your rosaryYou're always gonna know what was doneEven when you shut your eyes you still seeThat you sold a sonAnd you can't tell anyone

What is Mrs Lyons doing here?

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Introduction:

What does the word ‘cruel’ mean? Why would Willy Russell raise this as a question at the start of the play?

Point One:

Some might argue that Mrs Johnstone is cruel for giving her child away because….

Point Two:

However, circumstances meant that she couldn’t keep the child….

Context link:

Not a nuclear family

Working class

But y'know the devil's got your numberY'know he's gonna find youHe’s starin’ through your windowsHe’s creeping down the hallYes, y’know the devil’s got your numberHe’s gonna find y’,Y'know he's right behind youHe's standin' on your stepAnd he's knocking at your door.He's knocking at your door.He's knocking at your door.

Pen to paper: Is Mrs Lyons the ‘cruel’ one?To what extent could you classify Mrs Lyons as cruel in terms of the way she treats Mrs Johnstone here?Challenge: how might this support Willy Russell’s message or the didactic nature of the play?

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Reflection‘An’ did y’ never hear of the mother, so cruel’

After reading the pact, to what extent do you agree that Mrs Johnstone was cruel for giving her child away?

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Context link:

Not a nuclear family

Working class

Point Three:

She also knows that her child will have a better life with Mrs Lyons

Use the literally / metaphorically quote

Point Four:

Nonetheless, the way Mrs Lyons treats Mrs Johnstone could be deemed cruel

Context link:

SuperstitionEach of your points must draw upon textual reference from the text which you then must explain, in terms of how it connects to the point being made.

Challenge: analyse key words within the quotation or use literally / metaphoricallyChallenge: get those two contextual points inChallenge: every single paragraph will consider why Willy Russell presents either character in this way!

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Learning episode 8Learning goals

To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and contextTo be able to develop interpretations about a character based upon details in the text

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I explain what trends were in place during the 1950s/1960s?Can I link what I have learnt about youth culture to the musical ‘Blood Brothers’?Can I make inferences about a character?Can I use relevant quotations to support the impression I form of a character?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. How does the finance man and the catalogue man respond to Mrs Johnstone’s inability to pay?

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2. Why is the line ‘Never sure / Who’s at the door / Or the price I’ll have to pay’ significant?

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3. How does Mrs Lyon’s attitude towards Mrs Johnstone change immediately once the babies are born?

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4. Explain the literal and metaphorical meaning behind the line ‘He’s gone up to heaven.’

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5. What do we learn about the roles of men and women during the time through the characters of Mrs Lyons and Mr Lyons?

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6. What happens to Mrs Johnstone’s job?___________________________________________________________________

7. How does Mrs Lyons use superstition to get what she wants?___________________________________________________________________

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Finish the following quotations taken from Stave One and the start of Stave Two of ‘A Christmas Carol’

1. It was long, and

2. What’s Christmas time to you but

3. It is with great astonishment

4. And it was made of

5. I have always thought of Christmas time as

6. “Remember it!” cried Scrooge with fervour;

7. They walked along the road,

8. Why did his cold eye glisten,64

9. “Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost

10. “Good Heaven!” said Scrooge,

11. He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air,

12. It was a strange figure – like a child

13. From the crown of its head

14. Its belt sparkled and glittered

15. It held

16. The figure itself

New knowledge: Youth cultureYouth culture – television shows in the

1950s / 1960s (AO3)When the popularity of television exploded in the late 1940s and 1950s, westerns quickly became a staple of small-screen entertainment. Many B-movie Westerns were aired on TV as time fillers while a number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right. The earliest TV westerns were written primarily for a children’s audience. The peak year for television westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during prime-time. In one week in March 1959, eight of the top ten shows were westerns.Examples:The Lone Ranger was an American long-running early radio and television show. The main character is a masked Texas Ranger in the American Old West, who gallops about righting injustices, usually with the aid of a clever Native American.Rawhide was a television series which aired from 1959 to 1966. Rawhide was the fourth longest-running American TV western.

Cops and robbers

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Z Cars was a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Lancashire. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978. The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals. With its less-usual Northern setting, it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police, which some found unwelcome.The series was based upon communities with many problems. Liverpool suffered much damage during the war and the Liverpool Corporation, having many slums to contend with, bought land in the surrounding areas into which they moved industry. Along with these factories, many people were relocated en masse into newly developed ‘overspill’ estates. One area became the new town of Kirby. Kennedy Martin set his programme in the fictional Newtown, loosely based on the modern suburb of Kirkby, one of many housing estates that had sprung up across Britain in the post-war years.The stories revolve around pairs of officers patrolling that week. Riding on changing social attitudes and television, the social realism garnered popularity for Z Cars. It was initially somewhat unpopular with real-life police, who disliked the sometimes unsympathetic characterisation of officers. Being set in the North of England helped give Z Cars a regional flavour when most BBC dramas were set in the south. It directly challenged the BBC’s popular police drama Dixon of Dock Green, which at that point had been running for seven years but which some considered cosy.(Wikipedia)

Pen to paper: comprehension of Youth Culture text1. Who were the audience for early TV westerns?

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2. Why was 1959 a peak year for westerns?___________________________________________________________________

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3. Name two popular Western shows.66

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4. What was the name of the cop show introduced in the early 1960s?___________________________________________________________________

5. What link/s can we establish between Z Cars and Blood Brothers?___________________________________________________________________

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New knowledgeTime has now moved on and Mickey is no longer a baby. In this extract, we are introduced to Mickey as a young boy.

The NARRATOR exits.During the song MRS JOHNSTONE has gone to her house and locked herself in.

MICKEY, aged seven is knocking incessantly at the door. He is carrying a toy gun.

MRS JOHNSTONE (screaming; off)Go away!

MICKEYMother… will y’ open the bleedin’ door or what?

MRS JOHNSTONE (realizing; with relief; off)Mickey?

MRS JOHNSTONE comes to open the door.

MICKEYMam, Mam.

She grabs him and hugs him. He extricates himself.

Why was the door bolted? Did you think it was the rent man?

She laughs and looks at him.

How might this link to what we have just read about youth culture?

What signs are there that Mrs Johnstone and Mickey are working class?

What impression do you

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Mam, our Sammy’s robbed me other gun an’ that was me best one. Why does he rob all me things off me?

MRS JOHNSTONEBecause you’re the youngest Mickey. It used to happen to our Sammy when he was the youngest.

MICKEYMam, we’re playin’ mounted police an’ Indians. I’m a mountie. Mam, Mam, y’ know this mornin’ we’ve wiped out three thousand Indians.

MRS JOHNSTONE Good.

MICKEY (aiming the gun at her and firing)Mam, Mam, you’re dead.

MRS JOHNSTONE (staring at him)Hmm

MICKEYWhat’s up, Mam?

MRS JOHNSTONENothin’ son. Go on, you go out an’ play, there’s a good lad. But, ey, don’t you go playin’ with those hooligans down at the rough end.

MICKEY (on his way out)We’re down at the other end, near the big houses in the park.

MRS JOHNSTONEMickey! Come here.

MICKEYWhat?

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat did you say, where have you been playin’?

form of Sammy?

How might this link to what we have just read about youth culture?

Why might this be an example of foreshadowing?

Why might this be considered ironic?

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MICKEYMam, I’m sorry, I forgot.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat have I told you about playin’ up near there. Come here (She grabs him.)

MICKEYIt wasn’t my fault. Honest.

MRS JOHNSTONESo whose fault was it then?

MICKEYThe Indians. They rode up that way, they were tryin’ to escape.

MRS JOHNSTONEDon’t you ever go up there. Do you hear me?

MICKEYYeh. You let our Sammy go up there.

MRS JOHNSTONEOur Sammy’s older than you.

MICKEYBut why…

MRS JOHNSTONEJust shut up. Never mind why. You don’t go up near there. Now go on, get out an’ play. But you stay outside the front door where I can see y’.

MICKEYAh but, Mam, the…

MRS JOHNSTONE Go on!

MRS JOHNSTONE exits.

Why does Mrs Johnstone not want Mickey playing there?

Pen to paper: Youth culture

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Bearing in mind our earlier reading on ‘Youth culture’, what links can you see between the trends in television at the time and the extract from the musical above? ___________________________________________________________________

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New knowledge: SammyIn this extract, we are introduced to the character of Sammy, Mickey’s brother, through Mickey’s eyes.

MICKEY makes his way outside. He is fed up. Desultory. Shoots down a few imaginary Indians but somehow the magic has gone out of genocide. MICKEY sits, bored, looking at the ants on the pavement.

MICKEY (reciting)I wish I was our SammyOur Sammy’s nearly ten.He’s got two worms and a catapultAn’ he’s built an underground den.But I’m not allowed to go in there,I have to stay near the gate,‘Cos me Mam says I’m only seven,But I’m not, I’m nearly eight!

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Mrs Johnstone: protective or selfish?To what extent do you think Mrs Johnstone is being protective with Mickey because he is the youngest and perhaps, it might be suggested, she doesn’t want him to turn out like Sammy or how far do you think she is being selfish and desperate to ensure her secret is not discovered?

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I sometimes hate our Sammy,He robbed me toy car y’know,Now the wheels are missin’ an’ the top’s broke off,An’ the bleeding thing won’t go.An’ he said when he took it, it was just like that,But it wasn’t, it went dead straight,But y’ can’t say nott’n when they think y’ sevenAn’ y’ not, y’ nearly eight.

I wish I was our Sammy,Y’ wanna see him spit,Straight in y’ eye from twenty yards An’ every time a hit. He’s allowed to play with matches,And he goes to bed dead late,And I have to go at seven,Even though I’m nearly eight.

Y’ know our Sammy,He draws nudey women,Without arms, or legs, or even headsIn the baths, when he goes swimmin’But I’m not allowed to go to the baths,Me Mam says I have to wait,‘Cos I might get drowned, ‘cos I’m only seven,But I’m not, I’m nearly eight.

Y’ know our Sammy,Y’ know what he sometimes does?He wees straight through the letter boxOf the house next door to us.I tried to do it one night,But I had to stand on a crate,‘Cos I couldn’t reach the letter boxBut I will by the time I’m eight.

Pen to paper: SammyIn the extract above we are introduced to Sammy. Instead of hearing from him directly, we hear about him from his younger brother Mickey. A monologue is used to do this. A monologue is a speech spoken by one character about their innermost thoughts and feelings. Using the extract above, let’s consider what Mickey reveals through this monologue.

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What do we learn about Sammy from this monologue?

Is Sammy a positive role model for Mickey?

ReflectionForeshadowing is used within this section of the musical.

1. What is foreshadowing?

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2. How has foreshadowing been used in this section?

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Learning episode 9

Learning goalsTo be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting

textural references.To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I identify examples of foreshadowing within this scene?Can I explain the similarities and differences between Mickey and Edward?Can I compare and contrast the naivety of Mickey and Edward with the prejudice of Sammy, linking this to my contextual knowledge?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. What object is used to foreshadow events later on?

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2. How do we know the Johnstones are still poor?

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3. How have trends in television influenced the writing of Blood Brothers?

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4. Why does Mrs Johnstone not want Mickey playing up by the big houses?

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5. What do we learn about Sammy from his monologue?

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6. With Mrs Johnstone out at work a lot of the time, Sammy is the next person Mickey would look up to. Is he a good role model for Mickey?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

One of the major themes of A Christmas Carol is the supernatural.

Using the chart on the next page, identify four examples of where the supernatural is referenced in A Christmas Carol. Bonus points if you can also remember a quotation!

Bigger picture: why is the supernatural so important in ‘A Christmas Carol’?

Point and quote

Point and quote

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Point and quote

Point and quote

New knowledgeGemellology is the term for the scientific study of twins. These multiples possess a very special and unique bond. Most twins hold more than simply good friendship, rather, they begin to bond as life-long companions beginning before they are even introduced to the world.

Mary and Elaine are an example of twins separated at birth. They didn’t get to meet each other until they were 30 years old – despite living only a few miles apart in Derbeyshire.

The pair, who grew up in Chesterfield, are identical twins who were separated at birth. They lived apart for three decades.

And yet each of them somehow had a feeling they were not totally unique in the world. At the age of five, Mary says she ‘discovered the existence of another me.’

Mary and Elaine were born at the end of World War II to the unmarried 19 year old Leah Cohen. She had been disowned by her family and was living in a Leeds boarding house. One twin was adopted by Paddy and Lavinia Logan but they were not rich enough to take both.

Lavinia adopted Elaine while Mary went to another family on the understanding that there would be no contact between them. The girls were sent to different schools to make sure they didn’t meet.

But destiny had other plans for the girls.

At the age of five, Elaine was walking in town with her mother when she saw a poster showing a group of children with the actress Patricia Dainton.

“I was certain one of them was me,” recalls Mary. But of course it wasn’t – it was her sister. Three years later, Mary was playing in the waiting room of her doctor’s surgery when another child joined in. But Mary’s playmate kept calling her Elaine – and Mary didn’t know why. Soon after, Mary’s adoptive mother, Doris Black realised she had to come clean about what had happened and told her she had a twin sister.

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Elaine, on the other hand, was completely aware of the fact that she had a sister as her less strict parents had been open with her as soon as she was able to understand.

But still, they weren’t allowed to meet.

The twins continued to make their own way in life – Mary went to live in Singapore, Elaine in Surrey. The two had tried to make contact – but fate was working against them at that time.

Eventually, Mary and her husband moved to Scotland. Mary knew by now that Elaine had been adopted by a family called Logan, that one of the Logans was called Vincent and that one of the family was a professional dancer.

One evening, Mary was watching The Tom Jones Show on TV which featured a group of dancers known as The Young Generation. At the end of the show, the credits rolled – and Mary watched as the name Vince Logan scrolled up. She recalls ‘It kind of jumped out at me from the screen…I was sure it was Elain’s brother’s name. I wrote to him care of the BBC…just in case it was him. And it was!’

So from then, the twins were in touch. But still, distances, pregnancies and illnesses kept the pair apart. Letters and phone calls were exchanged regularly – but it was another two years before they could actually meet.

“Straight away there was a bond,” remembers Elaine. “The minute we started talking it was like we’d known each other all our lives. We just chatted like we were the greatest friends ever.”

Now, Mary and Elaine have been together longer than they have been apart.

Pen to paperAnswer the following questions using full sentences.

1. What is the term for the study of twins?

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2. What does the phrase ‘discovered the existence of another me’ suggest about the bond between tines?

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3. Summarise the efforts that were made to keep the twins apart.

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4. One set of adoptive parents told the truth as soon as they could and one set of adoptive parents didn’t. To what extent do you sympathise with both sets of adoptive parents?

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5. How did the twins feel once they had been reunited?___________________________________________________________________

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New knowledge:In this extract from the play, Mickey and Edward come face to face for the first time, completely unaware that they are, in fact, brothers.

Bored and petulant, MICKEY sits and shoots an imaginary Sammy.EDWARD, also aged ‘seven’ appears. He is bright and forthcoming.

EDWARDHello.

MICKEY (suspiciously)Hello.

EDWARDI’ve seen you before.

MICKEYWhere?

EDWARD You were playing with some other boys near my house.

MICKEYDo you live up in the park?

Why do you think

Mickey is suspicious?

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EDWARDYes. Are you going to come and play up there again?

MICKEYNo. I would do but I’m not allowed.

EDWARDWhy?

MICKEY‘Cos me mam says.

EDWARDWell, my mummy doesn’t allow me to play down here actually.

MICKEY ‘Gis a sweet.

EDWARDAll right. (He offers a big bag from his pocket.)

MICKEY (shocked)What?

EDWARDHere.

MICKEY (trying to work out the catch. Suspiciously taking one):Can I have another one? For our Sammy?

EDWARDYes of course. Take as many as you want.

MICKEY (taking a handful)Are you soft?

EDWARDI don’t think so.

MICKEY Round here if y’ ask for a sweet, y’ have to ask about, about twenty million times. An’

What can we infer

about Mickey and

Edward from the way

they refer to their

mums?

What can we infer

about Mickey and

Edward from this

scene?

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y’ know what?

EDWARD (sitting beside Mickey)What?

MICKEYThey still don’t bleedin’ give y’ one. Sometimes out Sammy does but y’ have to be dead careful if our Sammy gives y’ a sweet.

EDWARDWhy?

MICKEY‘Cos, if our Sammy gives y’ a sweet he’s usually weed on it first.

EDWARD (exploding in giggles)Oh, that sounds like super fun.

MICKEYIt is. If y’ our Sammy.

EDWARD Do you want to come and play?

MICKEYI might do. But I’m not playin’ now ‘cos I’m pissed off.

EDWARD (awed)Pissed off. You say smashing things don’t you? Do you know any more words like that?

MICKEYYeh. Yeh. I know loads of words like that. Y’ know, like the ‘F’ word.

EDWARD (clueless)Pardon?

MICKEYThe ‘F’ word.

EDWARD is still puzzled. MICKEY looks round to check that he cannot be overheard, then

Why do you think

Edward is impressed?

What does Mickey’s

use of language here

reveal?

Why is Edward’s

ignorance of this word

appropriate?

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whispers the word to EDWARD. The two of them immediately wriggle and giggle with glee.

EDWARDWhat does it mean?

MICKEYI don’t know. It sounds good though, doesn’t it?

EDWARDFantastic. When I get home I’ll look it up in the dictionary.

MICKEYIn the what?

EDWARDThe dictionary. Don’t you know what a dictionary is?

MICKEY‘Course I do…It’s a, it’s a thingy innit?

EDWARDA book which explains the meaning of words.

MICKEYThe meaning of words, yeh. Our Sammy’ll be here soon. I hope he’s in a good mood. He’s dead mean sometimes.

EDWARDWhy?

MICKEYIt’s ‘cos he’s got a plate in his head.

EDWARDA plate. In his head?

MICKEYYeh. When he was little, me Mam was at work an’ our Donna Marie was supposed to be lookin’ after him but he fell out the window an’ broke his head. So they took him to the

How are Mickey and

Edward’s educational

experiences different?

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hospital an’ put a plate in his head.

EDWARDA plate. A dinner plate?

MICKEYI don’t think so, ‘cos our Sammy’s head’s not really that big. I think it must have been one of them little plates that you have bread off.

EDWARDA side plate?

MICKEYNo. It’s on top.

EDWARDAnd…can you see the shape of it, in his head.

MICKEYI suppose, I suppose if y’ looked under his hair.

EDWARD (after a reflective pause)You know the most smashing things. Will you be my best friend?

MICKEYYeh. If y’want.

EDWARDWhat's your name?

MICKEYMichael Johnstone. But everyone calls me Mickey. What's yours?

EDWARDEdward Lyons.

MICKEYD' they call y' Eddie?

EDWARDNo.

How are Mickey and

Edward shown to be

naïve here?

Mickey and Edward

have just met, yet

Edward asks to be best

friends. What do you

think Willy Russell is

saying here about

childhood friendship?

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MICKEYWell, I will.

EDWARDWill you?

MICKEYYeh. How old are y' Eddie?

EDWARDSeven.

MICKEYI'm older than you. I'm nearly eight.

EDWARDWell, I'm nearly eight, really.

MICKEYWhen's your birthday?

EDWARDJuly the eighteenth.

MICKEYSo is mine. EDWARDIs it really?

MICKEYEh, we were born on the same day -- that means we can be blood brothers. Do you wanna be my blood brother, Eddie?

EDWARDYes, please.

MICKEY (producing a penknife)It hurts y’ know. (He puts a nick in his hand.) Now give us yours. (He puts a nick in his hand.) Now, give us yours.

MICKEY nicks EDWARD’s hand, then they clamp hands together.

Why is this an example

of dramatic irony?

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See this means that we’re blood brothers an’ that we always have to stand by each other. Now you say after me: ‘I will always defend my brother.’

EDWARDI will always defend my brother…

MICKEYAnd stand by him.

EDWARDAnd stand by him.

MICKEYAn’ share all my sweets with him.

EDWARDAnd share…

SAMMY leaps in front of them, gun in hand, pointed at them.

MICKEYHi ya, Sammy.

SAMMYGive us a sweet.

MICKEYHaven’t got any.

EDWARDYes, you have…

MICKEY frantically shakes his head, trying to shut EDWARD up.

Yes, I gave you one for Sammy, remember?

SAMMY laughs at EDWARD’s voice and MICKEY’s misfortune.

SAMMYY’ little robbin’ get.

Why do you think

Mickey lies? Why do

you think Edward tells

the truth?

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MICKEY No I’m not. (He hands over a sweet.) An’ anyway, you pinched my best gun.

MICKEY tries to snatch the gun from SAMMY, but SAMMY is too fast.

SAMMYIt’s last anyway. It only fires caps. I’m gonna get a real gun soon. I’m gonna get an air gun.

SAMMY goes into a fantasy shoot out. He doesn’t notice EDWARD who has approached him and is craning to get a close look at his head.(Eventually noticing) What are you lookin’ at?

EDWARDPardon?

MICKEYThat’s Eddie. He lives up by the park.

SAMMYHe’s a friggin’ poshy.

MICKEYNo, he’s not. He’s my best friend.

SAMMY (snorting, deciding it’s not worth the bother)You’re soft. Y’ just soft little kids. (In quiet disdain he moves away.)

MICKEYWhere y’ going?

SAMMY (looking at MICKEY)I’m gonna do another burial. Me worms have died again.

MICKEY (excitedly to EDWARD)Oh, y’ comin’ to the funeral? Our Sammy is having a funeral. Can we come, Sammy?

Why is this an example

of foreshadowing?

What does this line

reveal about working

class attitudes towards

the middle class?

Why do you think

Sammy snorts?

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SAMMY puts his head into his pocket and brings forth a handful of soil.

SAMMY Look, they was alive an wrigglin’ this morning.’ But by dinner time they was dead.

MICKEY and EDWARD inspect the deceased worms in SAMMY’s hand.

Pen to paper: tracking the textIn this extract, four key elements are really prominent. Can you find appropriate textual references to show how these elements have been presented in this scene?Foreshadowing Childhood innocence

Class differences Teenage prejudice

Challenge: let’s think about Russell’s motivation for creating this scene.How does Russell present contrasting attitudes towards class in this scene?Consider childhood innocence versus an older teenage perspective.

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ReflectionThe role of Mickey and Edward are usually played by the same two adult actors from the age of seven to their deaths. Why do you think Russell has adults perform these two roles instead of children?___________________________________________________________________

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Learning episode 10Learning goals

To be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting textural references.

To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I explain the difference between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’?Can I synthesise the admiration the boys have for each other?Can I analyse who is the most paranoid: Mrs Johnstone or Mrs Lyons and why?Can I evaluate how far ‘nature’ or ‘nurture’ is important in Blood Brothers?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. How do Mickey and Edward immediately respond to each other?

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2. What evidence is there to suggest that Mickey is working class and Edward is not?

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3. In what ways could Mickey and Edward be described as naïve?

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4. What do Mickey and Edward agree to become and why is this an example of dramatic irony?

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5. What example of foreshadowing is included in this scene?

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6. How does Sammy react to Edward and why is this?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Recap questions:

1. When Scrooge sees himself at the school, how does he react?

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2. What is the name of Scrooge’s sister and why does she come to the school?

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3. How do we know that Dicken’s sister had a more privileged upbringing than him?

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4. What can we infer about Scrooge’s relationship with his father and how does this mirror Dicken’s relationship with his own father?

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New knowledge

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest philosophical issues within psychology.

Nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are—from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics ( the way you are born)

Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture (the way you are brought up and the environment you grow up in).

Pen to paperHaving learnt about the difference between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’, what do you think? Do you think people develop as a result of ‘nature’ or ‘nurture’?

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New knowledgeIn the last learning episode, Mickey and Edward met for the first time. In this scene, we see how Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons react when they learn that the twins have found each other.

MRS JOHNSTONE enters.

MRS JOHNSTONEMickey…Mickey…

EDWARDIs that your mummy?

MICKEYMam…Mam, this is my brother.

MRS JOHNSTONE (stunned)What?

MICKEYMy blood brother, Eddie.

MRS JOHNSTONEEddie, Eddie who?EDWARDEdward Lyons, Mrs Johnstone.

MRS JOHNSTONE stands still, staring at him.

MICKEYEddie’s my best friend, Man. He lives up by the park an’…

MRS JOHNSTONEMickey…get in the house.

MICKEYWhat?

How do you think Mrs

Johnstone would

respond to this?

What do the stage

directions reveal about

Mrs Johnstone’s

response?

88

MRS JOHNSTONESammy, you an’ all. Both of y’ get in.

SAMMYBut I’m older than him, I don’t have to…

MRS JOHNSTONEI said get, the pair of y’…

MICKEY (going, almost in tears)But I haven’t done nothin’. I’ll see y’ Eddie. Ta ra Eddie…

MICKEY exits.

MRS JOHNSTONESammy!

SAMMYAh. (To EDWARD) I’ll get you.

EDWARDHave I done something wrong, Mrs Johnstone?

MRS JOHNSTONEDoes your mother know that you’re down here?

EDWARD shakes his head.

An’ what would she say if she did know?

EDWARDI…I think she’d be angry?

MRS JOHNSTONESo don’t you think you better get home before she finds out?

EDWARDYes?

MRS JOHNSTONEGo on, then.

EDWARD turns to go, then stops.

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EDWARDCould I…would it be all right if I came to play with Mickey on another day? Or perhaps he could come to play at my house…

MRS JOHNSTONEDon’t you ever come round here again. Ever.

EDWARDBut…

MRS JOHNSTONEEver! Now go on. Beat it, go home before the bogey man gets y’.

EDWARD walks towards his home. As he goes MRS JOHNSTONE sings

Should we meet again,I will not recognise your name,You can be sureWhat’s gone beforeWill be concealed.Your friends will never learnThat once we wereOn easy terms.

MR and MRS LYONS enter their house as EDWARD walks home.EDWARD reaches his home and walks in. His mother hugs him and his father produces a toy gun for him. EDWARD delighted, seizes it and ‘shoots’ his father, who spiritedly ‘dies’ to EDWARD’s great amusement. EDWARD and his father romp on the floor. MRS LYONS settles herself in an armchair with a story book, calling EDWARD over to her. EDWARD goes and sits with her, MR LYONS joining them and sitting on the arm of the chair. MRS JOHNSTONE turns and goes into her house at the end of the song.MR LYONS gets up and walks towards the door.

EDWARDDaddy…we haven’t finished the story yet.

Why do you think Mrs

Johnstone repeats

‘ever’?

Why does Mrs

Johnstone use a

superstition here?

What example of

foreshadowing is here?

Why is Mr Lyons also

an absent father? Is

he any better than Mr

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MR LYONSMummy will read the story, Edward. I’ve got to go to work for an hour.

MRS LYONS gets up and goes to her husband. EDWARD goes to the bookshelf and leafs through a dictionary.

MRS LYONSRichard you didn’t say…

MR LYONSDarling, I’m sorry, but if, if we complete this merger I will, I promise you, have more time. That’s why we’re doing it Jen. If we complete this, the firm will run itself and I’ll have plenty of time to spend with you both.

MRS LYONSI just – it’s not me, it’s Edward. You should spend more time with him. I don’t want – I don’t want him growing away from you.

EDWARDDaddy, how do you spell bogey man?

MR LYONSAsk Mummy. Darling, I’ll see you later now. Must dash.MR LYONS exits.

EDWARDMummy, how do you spell bogey man?

MRS LYONSMm?

EDWARDBogey man?

MRS LYONS (laughing)Edward, where did you hear such a thing?

Johnstone?

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EDWARD I’m trying to look it up.

MRS LYONSThere’s no such thing as the bogeyman. It’s a – a superstition. The sort of thing a silly mother might say to her children – ‘the bogey man will get you.’

EDWARDWill he get me?

MRS LYONSEdward, I’ve told you, there’s no such thing.

A doorbell is heard.

MRS LYONS goes to answer the door.

MICKEY (off)Does Eddie live here?

MRS LYONS (off)Pardon?

MICKEY (off)Does he? Is he coming out to play, eh?

EDWARD (shouting)Mickey!

MICKEY enters, pursued by MRS LYONS.MICKEYHi-ya Eddie. I’ve got our Sammy’s catapult. Y’ comin’ out?

EDWARDOh! (He takes the catapult and tries a practice shot). Isn’t Mickey fantastic, Mum?

MRS LYONSDo you go to the same school as Edward?

MICKEYNo

What is Mrs Lyon’s

attitude towards the

superstition here?

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EDWARDMickey says smashing things. We’re blood brothers, aren’t we, Mickey?

MICKEYYeh. We were born on the same day.

EDWARDCome on Mickey, let’s go…

MRS LYONSEdward…Edward, it’s time for bed.

EDWARDMummy. It’s not.

MRS LYONS takes over and ushers MICKEY out.

MRS LYONSI’m very sorry, but it’s Edward’s bedtime.

EDWARDMummy. Mummy, it’s early.

MRS LYONS exits with MICKEY to show him out. Then she returns.

Mummy!

MRS LYONSEdward. Edward where did you meet that boy?

EdwardAt his house.

MRS LYONSAnd…and his second name is Johnstone, isn’t it?

EDWARDYes. And I think you’re very, very mean.

MRS LYONSI’ve told you never to go where that boy – where boys like that live.

How does Mrs Lyons

react when Mickey tells

her they are blood

brothers?

What attitude does Mrs

Lyons display here

towards the working

class?

93

EDWARDBut why?

MRS LYONSBecause, because you’re not the same as him. You’re not. Do you understand?

EDWARDNo, I don’t understand. And I hate you!

MRS LYONS (almost crying)Edward, Edward, don’t. It’s…what I’m doing is only for your own good. It’s only because I love you, Edward.

EDWARDYou don’t you don’t. If you loved me you’ let me go out with Mickey because he’s my best friend. I like him more than you.

MRS LYONSEdward. Edward don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.

EDWARDWell. Well it’s true. And I will say it. I know what you are.

MRS LYONSWhat? What!

EDWARDYou’re…you’re a fuck off!

MRS LYONS hits EDWARD hard and instinctively.

MRS LYONSYou see, you see why I don’t want you mixing with boys like that! You learn filth from them and behave like this like a, like a horrible little boy, like them. But you are not like them. You are my son, mine, and you won’t, you won’t ever…

She notices the terror in EDWARD’s face and realises how heavy she has been. Gently she

Is this ironic?

How is Mickey rubbing

off on Edward?

What attitude towards

the working class is

expressed here?

Why is the pronoun

‘mine’ significant here?

94

pulls him to her and cradles him.

Oh, my son…my beautiful, beautiful son.

Pen to paper: Mickey and Edward’s relationshipUsing your notes from this learning episode and the previous learning episode, what evidence is there to suggest Mickey admires Edward and Edward admires Mickey?

Mickey admires Edward Edward admires Mickey

Challenge question: why do you think the two boys admire each other so much?

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Pen to paper: how do Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyon’s react to the twins being reunited?

Find quotations from the extract above that document the reactions of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyon’s to the boy’s discovery of each other. What do you learn?

How does Mrs Johnstone react?

How does Mrs Lyons react?

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Challenge: who do you think is the most paranoid and why?

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Pen to paper: the exchange between Mrs Lyons and EdwardThis is an important exchange. Consider the following two questions: ‘I like him more than you.’ Why might this be crushing for Mrs Lyons?

‘You see, you see why I don’t want you mixing with boys likethat!’ What attitude towardsthe working class isexpressed here?

ReflectionWe have already learnt about the terms ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ in this learning episode. Let’s reconsider this after our reading. It is clear that Mickey’s language and behaviour is having a strong influence on Edward when he swears at his mother. However, there is no evidence that Edward has any significant influence on Mickey. Could Russell be suggesting that, despite Mrs Lyons’s efforts to ‘nurture’ Edward as a ‘nice polite middle-class boy’, he easily reverts to his true nature as a member of the Johnstone family.___________________________________________________________________

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Learning episode 11Learning goals

To be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting textural references.

To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I comment upon the kids’ play, analysing to what extent it is innocent?Can I make inferences about the character of Linda using relevant textual reference?Can I summarise the differences in class as they continued to be presented in this section of the play?

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Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. How does Mrs Johnstone react when Mickey introduces her to Edward?

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2. What does Mrs Johnstone say to Edward to warn him off? What is this an example of?

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3. In what ways is Mr Johnstone an absent father?

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4. How is Mrs Lyons’ view on superstition reinforced when Edward asks her about the bogeyman?

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5. How does Mrs Lyons respond when Edward tells her they were born on the same day?

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6. How does Mrs Lyons prejudice towards the working class reveal itself?

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7. How does Edward respond?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Finish the following quotations taken from the start of Stave Two of ‘A Christmas Carol’

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1. “Remember it!” cried Scrooge with fervour;

2. They walked along the road,

3. Why did his cold eye glisten,

4. “Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost

5. “Good Heaven!” said Scrooge,

6. He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air,

7. It was a strange figure – like a child

8. From the crown of its head

9. Its belt sparkled and glittered

10. It held

11. The figure itself

New knowledgeIn this scene, the kids are out playing in the street.

EDWARD remains on stage, in the background, as though in his garden, watching, unnoticed by the battling children. MICKEY and LINDA are in one gang, SAMMY in another.

SAMMY (singing acapella, kids’ rhyme)I got y’ I shot y’An’ y’ bloody know I didI got y’ I shot y’

LINDAI stopped it with the bin lid.

There is a mass of derisive jeers from the other side. Music.

Singing How does this show childhood innocence and naivety and foreshadow

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But you know that if you cross your fingersAnd if you count from one to tenYou can get up off the ground againIt doesn’t matterThe whole thing’s just a game.

The shooting starts all over again. A KID raps on the door of a house. LINDA as a ‘Moll’ appears.

KIDMy name is Elliot NessAnd lady, here’s my card,I’m looking for one Al Capone.

(To LACKEYS)

Mac, check the backSarge, you check the yard!

LINDABut pal, I’ve told y’Al ain’t home.

We see ‘Al make a break for it. NESS shoot him like he was eating his breakfast.

KIDSo, lay can I use your telephone.

As NESS goes to the phone and orders a hearse we see AL get up and sing the chorus with the other children

But you know that if you cross your fingers,And if you count from one to ten,You can get up off the ground again.It doesn’t matter the whole thing’s just a game.

The KID who was playing AL becomes a cowboy. He turns to face SAMMY and sings

COWBOYWhen I say draw,You’d better grab that gun

what is to come?

100

An’ maybe say a little prayer‘Cos I’m the fastest drawThat man you ever sawCall up your woman, say goodbye to her,Cos y’ know you’re goin’ right down there.

As he draws his gun on SAMMY, SAMMY produces a bazooka and blows him off the stage.

ALL But you know that if you cross your fingers,And if you count from one to ten,You can get up off the ground again,It doesn't matter, The whole thing's just a game.

A small group of CHILDREN become a brigade of US troops.

SERGEANTOk men, let’s get themWith a hand grenade.

CORPORALLet’s see them try and get outta this.

RESTHe’s a hot shot SergeantFrom the Ninth BrigadeHe’s never been known to miss

SERGEANT (to grenade) C’mon give Daddy a kiss. (He pulls the pin and lobs it.)

His BRIGADE cover their ears and crouch down. LINDA catches the grenade and lobs it back at them. After being blown to pieces they get up singing the chorus, along with the 'enemy.'

ALLBut you know that if you cross your fingers,And if you count from one to ten,You can get up off the ground again,It doesn’t matter,The whole thing’s just a game.

101

SAMMY comes forward as PROFESSOR HOWE carrying a condom filled with water. PROFESSORMy name's Professor Howe,An' zees bomb I 'old,Eet can destroy ze 'emisphere,I've primed it, I've timed itTo explode,Unless you let me out of here (NO?)

They don’t.

Then I suggest you cover your ears

There is an explosion which tops them all. Out of it comes all the children singing the chorus.

ALLBut you know that if you cross your fingers, And if you count from one to ten,You can get up off the ground again,It doesn't matter,The whole thing's just a gameThe whole thing's just a gameThe whole thing's just a game

SAMMY (interrupting; chanting)You’re deadY’ know y’ areI got y’ standin’Near that car.

LINDABut when y’ didHis hand was hidBehind his backHis fingers crossedAn’ so he’s not

MICKEYSo you fuck off!

Pen to paper: Light-hearted fun or hints of what is to come?102

Youth culture is very much apparent in this scene as the kids act out a range of scenes. However, there are also countless references to death. Using the script above, make a note of all the references to death you can find.

Now let’s consider the following chorus which is repeated throughout the song:

But you know that if you cross your fingers,

And if you count from one to ten,

You can get up off the ground again,

It doesn't matter,

The whole thing's just a game

The whole thing's just a game

The whole thing's just a game

Key question: how is the theme of childhood innocence explored here? Is this activity as innocent as it first seems?___________________________________________________________________

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New knowledgeIn this section, the other kids tease Mickey for using the ‘F’ word but someone comes to Mickey’s side.

All the children, apart from MICKEY and LINDA, point and chant the accusing ‘Aah!’ MICKEY is singled out, accused. The rest, led by SAMMY suddenly chant at MICKEY and point.

ALL (chanting)You said the ‘F’ wordYou’re gonna dieYou’ll go to hell an’ there you’ll fryJust like a fish in a chip shop fatOnly twenty five million times hotter than that!

They all laugh at MICKEY

LINDA moves in to protect MICKEY who is visibly shaken.

LINDAWell, well, all youse lot swear, so you’ll all go to hell with him.

SAMMYNo, we won’t Linda.

LINDAWhy?

SAMMY‘Cos when we swear…we cross our fingers!

MICKEYWell, my fingers were crossed.

CHILDREN (variously)No they weren’t.Liar! Come off it.I seen them.

LINDALeave them alone!

As Mickey’s brother, do you find this comment supportive? What might this further suggest about Sammy’s character?

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SAMMYWhy? What’ll you do about it if we don’t?

LINDA (undaunted; approaching SAMMY)I’ll tell my mother why all her ciggies always disappear when you’re in our house.

SAMMYWhat?

LINDAAn’ half the crowns.

SAMMY (suddenly)Come on gang, let’s go. We don’t wanna play with these anyway. They’re just kids.The other children fire a barrage of ‘shots’ at MICKEY and LINDA before they rush off.

LINDAI hate them!

LINDA notices MICKEY quietly crying.

What’s up?

MICKEYI don’t want to die.

LINDABut y’ have to Mickey. Everyone does. (She starts to dry his tears.) Like your twinny died, didn’t he, when he was a baby. See, look on the bright side of it, Mickey. When you die you’ll meet your twinny again, won’t y’?

MICKEYYeh

LINDAAn’ listen Mickey, if y’ dead, there’s no school, is there?

MICKEY (smiling)An’ I don’t care about our Sammy, anyway. Look. (He produces an air pistol) He thinks no one

What future event might this foreshadow?

105

knows he’s got it. But I know where he hides it.

LINDA (impressed)Ooh…gis a go.

MICKEYNo…come, let’s go get Eddie first.

LINDAWho?

MICKEYCome on, I’ll show y’

Pen to paper: Linda – a true friend to MickeyIn this scene, Linda moves in to protect Mickey from the others which immediately reveals her loyalty in protecting Mickey. Look at Linda’s snippets of Linda’s dialogue below. What can you infer about her character as a result?

Linda’s dialogue What can I infer about Linda from this?

Well, well, all youse lot swear, so you’ll all go to hell with him.

I’ll tell my mother why all her ciggies always disappear when you’re in our house.

I hate them!

But y’ have to Mickey. Everyone does. (She starts to dry his tears.) Like your twinny died, didn’t he, when he was a baby. See, look on the bright side of it, Mickey. When you die you’ll meet your twinny again, won’t y’?

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An’ listen Mickey, if y’ dead, there’s no school, is there?

New knowledge

Mickey and Linda decide to go and fetch Edward so that he can go and play with them.

They go as if to EDWARD’s garden.

MICKEY (loud but conspiratorially)Eddie...Eddie…y' comin' out?

EDWARDI…My mum says I haven't got to play with you.

MICKEYWell, my mum says I haven't got to play with you. But take no notice of mothers. They're soft. Come on, I've got Linda with me. She's a girl, but she's alright.

EDWARD decides to risk it and creeps out.

MICKEYHi-ya.

EDWARDHi-ya, Mickey. Hello, Linda.

LINDAHi-ya, Eddie (She produces the air pistol.) Look… we’ve got Sammy’s air gun.

MICKEYCome on, Eddie. You can have a shot at our target in the park.

LINDAPeter Pan.

MICKEYWe always shoot at that, don’t we Linda?

LINDA

In what ways does Mickey show he is braver than Edward?

107

Yeh, we try an’ shoot his little thingy off, don’t we Mickey?

They all laugh.

Come on gang, let’s go.

EDWARD (standing firm)But Mickey…I mean…suppose we get caught…by a policeman.

MICKEYAah…take no notice. We’ve been caught loads of times by a policeman….haven’t we Linda?

LINDAOh, my God, yeh. Hundreds of times. More than that.

MICKEY We say dead funny things to them, don’t we, Linda?

EDWARDWhat sort of funny things?

LINDAAll sorts, don’t we Mickey?

MICKEYYeh…like y’know when they ask what y’name is, we say things like, like ‘Adolph Hitler’, don’t we Linda?

LINDAYeh, an’ hey Eddie, y’ know when they say, ‘What d’ y’ think you’re doin’? we always say somethin’ like like, ‘waiting for the ninety-two bus.’

MICKEY and LINDA crease up with laughter.

Come on.

EDWARD (greatly impressed)Do you…do you really? Goodness, that’s

In what ways could we describe Edward as being ‘moral’ here?

How does this interchange reveal that Mickey does not have a lot of respect for the law?

Why do you think Edward is ‘greatly

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fantastic.

MICKEYCome on, bunk under y’ fence, y’ Ma won’t see y’.

MICKEY, LINDA and EDWARD exit.

MRS LYONS enters the garden.

MRS LYONS (calling)Edward, Edward, Edward...

impressed’?

Pen to paper: a world apartIn what ways does the difference in class continue to be apparent in this scene?___________________________________________________________________

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ReflectionDespite their best attempts to keep the boys apart, Mickey and Edward seem inseparable. To what extent do you think the mothers’ efforts will continue to be futile?___________________________________________________________________

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Learning episode 12Learning goals

To be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting textural references.

I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationCan I empathise with the character of Mrs Lyons by exploring her thoughts and feelings after her encounter with Edward?Can I justify Mrs Lyons being described as ‘irrational’ in this scene?Can I explore the presentation of Mr Lyons and summarise my inferences of him?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

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1. How is the theme of youth culture evident in this section of the play?

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2. Why does this scene help to present the naivety of the kids?

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3. How does it also help to foreshadow what will come?

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4. How does Linda stick up for Mickey and what can we infer about her when she stands up to Sammy?

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5. Why is Linda’s reference to ‘meeting his twinny’ again when he dies an example of dramatic irony?

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6. How does the behaviour of Linda and Mickey versus the behaviour of Edward reinforce expectations around class?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

One of the major themes of A Christmas Carol is redemption.

Using the chart on the next page, identify four examples of where the idea of redemption is referenced in A Christmas Carol. Bonus points if you can also remember a quotation!

Bigger picture: why is the theme of redemption so important in ‘A Christmas Carol’?

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Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

Point and quote

Pen to paperAt the end of the last learning episode, we saw Mrs Lyons slap her son Edward after he calls her a ‘fuckoff.’ The stage directions read as follows:

She notices the terror in EDWARD’s face and realises how heavy she has been. Gently she pulls him to her and cradles him.

Oh, my son…my beautiful, beautiful son.

On the next page, imagine you are Mrs Lyons. As she cradles her son, what thoughts are running through her mind and why? Write a short piece from the perspective of Mrs Lyons that

explores her reaction to Edward calling her a ‘fuckoff’ reacts to the fact she slapped him expresses her fears and worries

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New knowledgeIn this scene, the appearance of Mickey and Edward’s behaviour has got Mrs Lyons spooked.

The NARRATOR enters.

Music.

NARRATOR (singing)There's gypsies in the woodAnd they've been watchin' youThey wanna take your baby away,There's gypsies in the wood,And they've been calling youCan Edward please come out and playPlease can he come with us and play?

You know the devil's got your numberY’ know he's gonna find you,Y’ know he's right behind yaHe's starin' through your windows,He's creepin' down the hall.

MR LYONS enters the garden.

MRS LYONSOh Richard, Richard.

MR LYONSFor God’s sake Jennifer, I told you on the phone, he’ll just be out playing somewhere.

MRS LYONSBut where?

MR LYONSOutside somewhere, with friends, Edward…

MRS LYONSBut I don’t want him out playing.

MR LYONS

What kind of tone does the narrator set up in this scene?

How would an audience respond to this?

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Jennifer, he’s not a baby. Edward…

MRS LYONSI don’t care. I don’t care…

MR LYONSFor Christ’s sake, you bring me home from work in the middle of the day, just to say you haven’t seen him for an hour. Perhaps we should be talking about you getting something for your nerves.

MRS LYONSThere’s nothing wrong with my nerves. It’s just…just this place…I hate it. Richard, I don’t want to stay here any more. I want to move.

MR LYONSJennifer! Jennifer, how many times…the factory is here, my work is here.

MRS LYONSIt doesn’t have to be somewhere far away. But we have got to move, Richard. Because if we stay here I feel that something terrible will happen, something bad.

MR LYONS sighs and puts his arm round MRS LYONS.

MR LYONSIt’s just…it’s these people…these people that Edward has started mixing with. Can’t you see how he’s drawn to them? They’re…they’re drawing him away from me.

MR LYONS, in despair, turns away from her.

MR LYONSOh Christ.

He turns to look at her but she looks away. He sighs and absently bends to pick up a pair of children’s shoes from the floor.

How would you describe Mr Lyon’s reaction here?

Do you think Mr Lyons cares for his wife?

What does she think will happen do you think?

Why might ‘drawing away’ be an interesting phrase?

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I really do think you should see a doctor.

MRS LYONS (snapping)I don’t need to see a doctor. I just need to move away from this neighbourhood, because I’m frightened. I’m frightened for Edward.

MR LYONS places the shoes on the table before turning on her.

MR LYONSFrightened of what, woman?

MRS LYONS (wheeling to face him)Frightened of… (She is stopped by the sight of shoes on the table. She rushes at the table and sweeps the shoes off)

Music

NARRATOR (singing)There’s shoes upon the tableAn’ a spider’s been killedSomeone broke the lookin’ glassThere’s a full moon shinin’An’ the salt’s been spilledYou’re walkin’ on pavement cracksDon’t know what’s gonna come to pass

Now you know the devil’s got your numberHe’s gonna find y’Y’ know he’s right behind y’He’s staring through your windowsHe’s creeping down your hall.

The song ends with a percussion build to a sudden full stop and the scene snaps from MRS LYONS to the children.

How has her response to superstition changed?

Pen to paperThe meeting of Mickey and Edward and Mickey has had a huge impact on Mrs Lyons. To what extent would you describe Mrs Lyons as irrational at this point?

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ReflectionIn this scene we see Mr Lyons and his response to his wife. On the right hand side of the chart below are examples of what he says or the stage directions describing his reaction. On the left-hand side, I want you to come up with your judgement of him – one adjective to describe your impression of him and an explanation as to why you think the way that you do.

Judgement and explanation QuotationFor God’s sake Jennifer, I told you on the phone, he’ll just be out playing somewhere.Jennifer, he’s not a baby. Edward…

For Christ’s sake, you bring me home from work in the middle of the day, just to say you haven’t seen him for an hour. Perhaps we should be talking about you getting something for your nerves.Jennifer! Jennifer, how many times…the factory is here, my work is here.

MR LYONS, in despair, turns 115

away from her.

Frightened of what, woman?

Learning episode 13Learning goals

To be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting textural references.

To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I summarise the way in which the policeman responds to Mickey and then to Edward?Can I compare his responses towards both families using relevant textual detail?Can I link this episode to contextual details about the protests and riots going on in Liverpool at the time?

Do it now taskRecap questions:

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1. What is Mrs Lyon’s immediate reaction to her encounter with Edward?

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2. Why is Mr Lyons reluctant to move?

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3. What do you think Mrs Lyons means when she says Edward is ‘drawn to them’?

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4. How does Mrs Lyons react when Mr Lyons puts shoes on the table? Why does this demonstrate a change in her character?

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5. Identify three words you would use to describe Mr Lyons in this scene?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Recap questions:

1. Identify three adjectives to describe Fezziwig.

2. What is Fezziwig’s attitude towards Christmas?

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3. Who does Fezziwig invite to his party and how do we know?

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4. How does Scrooge react when Fezziwig instructs him to get the party ready?

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5. Why does the Ghost of Christmas Past show Scrooge this scene?

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6. When Scrooge says ‘I would like to have a word my clerk now’, why do you think he says this?

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New knowledgeIn this extract, Mickey, Eddie and Linda get caught firing with their air pistol but the reactions of the police to Mickey and Eddie are very, very different.

MICKEY, EDDIE and LINDA are standing in line, taking it in turns to fire the air pistol. MICKEY takes aim and fires.

LINDA (with glee) Missed

EDWARD loads and firesMissed!

LINDA takes the gun and fires. We hear a metallic ping. She beams a satisfied smile at MICKEY who ignores it and reloads, fires. The routine is repeated with exactly the same outcome until

MICKEY (taking the gun)We’re not playin’ with the gun no more. (He puts it away.)

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LINDAAh, why?

MICKEYIt gets broke if y’ use it too much.

EDWARDWhat are we going to do now, Mickey?

MICKEYI dunno.

LINDAI do.

MICKEYWhat?

LINDALet’s throw some stones through them windows.

MICKEY (brightening)Ooh, I dare y’ Linda, I dare y’.

LINDA (bending for a stone)Well, I will. I’m not scared, either. Are you Eddie?

EDWARDErm…well…erm.

LINDAHe is look. Eddie’s scared.

MICKEYNo, he isn’t! Are y’ Eddie?

EDWARD (stoically)No…I’m not. I’m not scared at all, actually.

LINDARight, when I count to three we all throw together. One, two, three…

Unseen by them a POLICEMAN has approached behind

What type of punctuation is used here and what does it help to convey?

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them.

POLICEMANMe mother caught a flea, she put it in the tea pot to make a cup of tea…And what do you think you’re doing?

LINDA and MICKEY shoot terrified glances at EDWARD, almost wetting themselves.

EDWARD (mistaking their look for encouragement) Waiting for the ninety-two bus. (He explodes with excited laughter).

LINDAHe’s not with us.

MICKEYSir.

LINDASir.

POLICEMANNo. He’s definitely with us. What’s your name, son?

EDWARDAdolph Hitler.

EDWARD laughs until through the laughter he senses that all is not well. He sees that he alone is laughing. The laughter turns to tears which sets the other two off. The three children turn round, crying, bawling, followed by the POLICEMAN.The three children exit.MRS JOHNSTONE enters.The POLICEMAN goes to confront MRS JOHNSTONE.

POLICEMANAnd he was about to commit a serious crime, love. Now, do you understand that? You don’t wanna end up in court again, do y’?

MRS JOHNSTONE shakes her head.

What can we infer about Edward here?

How does this reinforce his naivety and innocence?

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Well, that’s what’s gonna happen if I have any more trouble from one of yours. I warned you last time, didn’t I, Mrs Johnstone, about your Sammy?

MRS JOHNSTONE nods.

Well, there’ll be no more bloody warnings from now on. Either you keep them in order, Missis, or it’ll be the courts for you, or worse, won’t it?

MRS JOHNSTONE nods.

Yes, it will.

As the POLICEMAN turns and goes towards the LYON’s house music is heard.

MRS JOHNSTONE (singing)Maybe some dayWe’ll move awayAnd start all over againIn some new placeWhere they don’t know my faceAnd nobody’s heard of my nameWhere we can begin againFeel we can win an’ then…Maybe…

The music tails off as we see the POLICEMAN confronting MR LYONS. The POLICEMEN has removed his helmet and holds a glass of scotch. EDWARD is there.

POLICEMANAn’ er, as I say, it was more of a prank, really, Mr Lyons. I’d just dock his pocket money if I was you. (Laughs). But, one thing I would say, if y’ don’t mind me sayin’, is well, I’m not sure I’d let him mix with the likes of them in the future. Make sure he keeps with his own kind, Mr Lyons. Well, er, thanks for the drink, sir. All the best now. He’s a good lad, aren’t you Adolph? Goodnight, sir. (He replaces his

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helmet.) The POLICEMAN leaves.

Pen to paper: how does the role of the policeman help to convey attitudes towards the working class during this time?

In this extract, we see prejudice at its greatest. The policeman treats Mickey and Edward very differently. In the chart below, identify what he says to both and the language he uses to convey his differing attitudes to the Johnstones and the Lyons.

How does the policeman respond to Mickey and Mrs Johnstone?

How does the policeman respond to Edward and Mr Lyons?

New knowledgeThe different way in which the police officer treats Mickey and Edward is as a result of growing tension during the time of the writing of the play between the working class and the police. This resulted as Liverpool saw factory after factory shut down which led to widespread unemployment and poverty.

Let’s read an article that summarises the discontent felt in Liverpool during the time in which the play was written.

The English city that wanted to 'break away' from the UK

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Thirty years ago left-wingers in Liverpool, bitterly opposed to Margaret Thatcher, attempted to oppose central government and go their own way.

It's not just the accent that makes Liverpool feel a bit foreign to outsiders. Geographically and politically, Liverpool is a city on the edge of Britain.

At no time was this truer than in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Once the great port of the British Empire, Liverpool lost 80,000 jobs between 1972 and 1982 as the docks closed and its manufacturing sector shrank by 50%.

Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern recalls typing a CV for his brother in the early 1980s.

"From 1976 onwards it was this litany - Birds Eye, [Fisher] Bendix, Leyland, every one of them - reason for leaving: factory closed, factory closed, factory closed."

left) and Derek Hatton

"There was a lot of anger around," Derek Hatton, a former fire fighter who was elected to the council, remembers. "Thatcher had come to power and was taking more money off the local authority. So there was a mood in city, which was saying, 'Hang on a minute! What's going on here?'"

Militant supporters were elected to key positions within the Liverpool Labour Party and, in 1983, the same year that Mrs Thatcher won her second general election by a landslide, Labour won the city council elections on a radical socialist manifesto.

It immediately cancelled the 1,200 redundancies planned by the previous administration, froze council rents and launched an ambitious house-building programme targeting the city's most deprived neighbourhoods. Slums were torn down, new leisure centres and nurseries built and apprenticeships created.

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The only problem was that the council did not have the cash to fund its projects. But one of Labour's election pledges had been to campaign for more money from central government. And Roy Gladden, a non-Militant Labour councillor both then and now, says the council was confident it could secure the funds it needed.

"In those days, you could negotiate more with government than councils can today. Then we thought we had a case because of the deprivation in the city. We hoped even the Thatcher government would see the need to protect its citizens and that Liverpool, whether they liked it or not, was part of the UK."

At first, the Liverpool Labour council's strategy worked. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Patrick Jenkin, visited Liverpool and was so shocked by the poor housing he saw, he awarded the city an extra £20m. But when the council asked the government for more money the following year, the answer was no.

"They didn't seem to have the right kind of feeling," says Gladden. "They were happy for us to have the factories and make the money that then got shifted to the south, to London. But when it came for that to be returned it didn't happen."

The decision confirmed the "outsider" status that many in the city already felt - among them the musician Peter Hooton, who was then a youth worker on one of Liverpool's poorest estates, Cantrill Farm. "When Thatcher was in power, we felt that she looked at Liverpool and thought: 'Well, they're not really English, are they?'

"Liverpool has always seen itself as separate from the rest of the country. As a city, it has more in common with Belfast and Glasgow than it does with London. There was the big influx of Irish and, because it's a port, it's always been international. We look to America and Ireland - to New York and Dublin - more than we look to London." it closed

"The mood was very similar to what it was during the Scottish referendum," says Hooton. "People were so politicised - including young people - they were discussing council policy in pubs. They knew the names of the chair of education and the chair of finance. There was no other city like it in that period."

But not everyone in Liverpool supported the council and its confrontational approach to the Thatcher government. In October 1985, thousands of people gathered at the city's Pier Head for a Liverpool Against Militant demonstration. They even released an anti-Militant record.

Meanwhile, Thatcher was so worried that Liverpool was about to go bankrupt that the cabinet considered appointing commissioners to run the city.

Earlier that year, in a last-ditch attempt to force the government to compromise, Liverpool City Council issued 31,000 council workers with redundancy notices. It was meant to be a tactic - a way of buying time and meeting its legal obligation to stay within its budget, says Hatton, who was then deputy leader of the council.

"We sent out a letter to everyone who received a redundancy notice, which virtually said 'don't take any notice of this, we've got to do this, not one of you will lose your jobs.'"

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But Labour leader Neil Kinnock was outraged by the tactic.

"If you talk to representatives from the council workers, they were petrified at the possibility of losing their jobs or even temporary redundancy," he says. "You cannot engage in these infantile tactics in order to try to impress government or public opinion if you're going to inflict desperate worry on the people who are going to be most directly affected. You can't play games in those circumstances."

Pen to paper: how would events in Liverpool during the 1980’s influence Willy Russell’s crafting of the police scene?

Taking into consideration what we have learnt about Liverpool during the 1980’s, how has Willy Russell crafted this scene to show growing tensions between the working class and the law. Ensure you refer to both the play and the article in your answer.

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Reflection:How does this scene also support Willy Russell’s message about stereotyping and prejudicing against the working classes? Think carefully about the character of the policeman.___________________________________________________________________

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Learning episode 14Learning goals

To be able to respond to the text showing a sound interpretation using focused supporting textural references.

To be able to make relevant comments on the relationship between text and context.I think I can

To be extending, we need to be able to What am I learning today?AO1: Inference

and interpretationAO3: Context

Can I Can I Can I Can I

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Do it now taskRecap questions:

1. How is the theme of youth culture evident in this section of the play?

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2. How does Edward react when Linda suggests throwing stones through a window?

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3. In what ways do we see the differences in class as a result of his reaction?

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4. What does Edward say in response to the policeman and how does this show his naivety?

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5. How does the policeman deal with Mrs Johnstone?

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6. How does the policeman deal with Mr Lyons?

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7. Why does the policeman treat the two families so differently?

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A Christmas Carol revision: Stave Two

Finish the following quotations taken from the start of Stave Two of ‘A Christmas Carol’

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1. Scrooge sat down upon a form,

2. To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on such subjects,

3. At one of these a lonely boy was

4. …he said in pity for his former self,

5. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night.

6. “The school is not quite deserted,” said the Ghost.

7. It opened; and a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and

8. He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed,

9. “I have come to bring you home, dear brother!” said the child

10. She clapped her hands and laughed, and tried to touch his head;

11. Father is so much kinder than he used to be,

New knowledgeIn this section of the play, Mr Lyons has finally given in to Mrs Lyons demands and they agree to move to the countryside.

MR LYONSEdward…how would you like to move to another house?

EDWARDWhy, Daddy?

MR LYONSErm, well, various reasons really. Erm, actually Mummy’s not been too well lately and we thought a move, perhaps further out towards the country somewhere, might… Do you think you’d like that?

EDWARDI want to stay here.

MR LYONSWell, you think about it, old chap.

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EDWARD leaves his home and goes to the JOHNSTONE’s door. He knocks at the door.MRS JOHNSTONE answers the door.

EDWARDHello, Mrs Johnstone. How are you?

MRS JOHNSTONEYou what?

EDWARDI’m sorry. Is there something wrong?

MRS JOHNSTONE No, I just…I don’t usually have kids enquiring about my health. I’m er…I’m all right. An’ how are you, Master Lyons?

EDWARDVery well, thank you.

MRS JOHNSTONE looks at EDWARD for a moment.

MRS JOHNSTONEYeh. You look it. Y’ look very well. Does your mother look after you?

EDWARDOf course.

MRS JOHNSTONENow listen, Eddie, I told you not to come around here again.

EDWARDI’m sorry but I just wanted to see Mickey.

MRS JOHNSTONENo. It’s best…if…

EDWARDI won’t be coming here again. Ever. We’re moving away. To the country.

MRS JOHNSTONELucky you.

What can you infer about Mrs Johnstone’s attitude towards class here?

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EDWARDBut I’d much rather live here.

MRS JOHNSTONEWould you? When are y’ goin’?

EDWARDTomorrow.

MRS JOHNSTONEOh. So we really won’t see you again, eh…

EDWARD shakes his head and begins to cry.

What’s up?

EDWARD (through his tears)I don’t want to go. I want to stay here where my friends are…where Mickey is.

MRS JOHNSTONECome here.

She takes him, cradling him, letting him cry.

No listen…listen, don’t you be soft. You’ll probably love it in your new house. You’ll meet lots of new friends an’ in no time at all you’ll forget Mickey ever existed.

EDWARDI won’t…I won’t. I’ll never forget.

MRS JOHNSTONEShush, shush. Listen, Eddie, here’s you wantin’ to stay here, an’ here’s me, I’ve been trying to get out for years. We’re a right pair, aren’t we, you an’ me?

EDWARDWhy don’t you Mrs Johnstone? Why don’t you buy a new house near us?

MRS JOHNSTONEJust like that?

What do you think the use of the adjective ‘soft’ reveals about attitudes towards class?

Do you think there is a case of everyone always wants what someone else has?

How does this show Edward has never had to worry about money?

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EDWARDYes, yes.

MRS JOHNSTONEEy.

EDWARDYes.

MRS JOHNSTONEWould you like a picture of Mickey, to take with you? So’s you could remember him?

EDWARDYes, please.She removes a locket from around her neck.

MRS JOHNSTONESee, look…there’s Mickey, there. He was just a young kid when that was taken.

EDWARDAnd is that you Mrs Johnstone?

She nods

Can I really have this?

MRS JOHNSTONEYeh. But keep it a secret eh, Eddie? Just our secret, between you an’ me.

EDWARD (smiling)All right, Mrs Johnstone. (He puts the locket round his neck) He looks at her for a moment too long.

MRS JOHNSTONEWhat y’ lookin’ at?

EDWARDI thought you didn’t like me. I thought you weren’t very nice. But I think you’re smashing.

MRS JOHNSTONE (looking at him)

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God help the girls when you start dancing.

EDWARDPardon?

MRS JOHNSTONENothing (Calling into the house.) Mickey, say goodbye to Eddie – he’s moving.

MICKEY comes out of the house.Music is quietly introduced.EDDIE moves to MICKEY and gives him a small parcel from his pocket. MICKEY unwraps a toy gun. The two boys clasp hands and wave goodbye. MRS JOHNSTONE and MICKEY watch as EDWARD joins his parents, dressed in outdoor clothes, on their side of the stage.

EDWARDGoodbye.

MR LYONSWell, Edward…do you like it here?

EDWARD (unenthusiastically)It’s very nice.

MRS LYONSOh, look, Edward…look at those trees and those cows. Oh Edward you’re going to like it so much out here, aren’t you?

EDWARDYes. Are you feeling better now, Mummy?

MRS LYONSMuch better now, darling. Oh Edward, look, look at those birds… Look at that lovely black and white one…

EDWARD (immediately covering his eyes)Don’t Mummy, don’t look. It’s a magpie, never look at one magpie. It’s one for sorrow…

MR LYONSEdward…that’s just stupid superstition.

How is this an example of foreshadowing?

How is this an example of foreshadowing?

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EDWARDIt’s not, Mickey told me.

MRS LYONSEdward, I think we can forget the silly things Mickey said.

EDWARD I’m going inside. I want to read.

EDWARD exits.

MR LYONS (comforting his wife) Children take time to adapt to new surroundings. He’ll be as right as rain in a few days. He won’t even remember he once lived somewhere else.

MRS LYONS forces a smile and allows herself to be led inside by her husband.MICKEY rings the doorbell of EDWARD’s old house. A WOMAN answers the door.

WOMANYes?

MICKEYIs er…is Eddie in?

WOMANEddie? I’m afraid Eddie doesn’t live here now.

MICKEY Oh, yeh. (He stands looking at the woman.)

WOMANGoodbye.

MICKEYDo y’…erm do y’know where he lives now?

WOMANPardon?

MICKEYSee, I’ve got some money, I was gonna go, on the

Do you think she believes this?

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bus, an’ see him. Where does he live now?

WOMANI’m afraid I’ve no idea.

MICKEYIt’s somewhere in the country, isn’t it?

WOMAN Look, I honestly don’t know and I’m rather busy. Goodbye.

The WOMAN closes the door on MICKEY.MICKEY wanders away, aimless and bored, deserted and alone. Music.

MICKEYNo kids out on the street today.You could be living on the moon.Maybe everybody's packed their bags and moved awayGonna be a long, long, longSunday afternoon.

Just killing time and kicking cans aroundTry to remember jokes I knew, I tell 'em to myself, but they're not funny since I foundIt's gonna be a long, long, longSunday afternoon.

EDWARD, in his garden, equally bored and alone. The scene appears in such a way that we don’t know if it’s real or in MICKEY’s mind.

My best friendAlways had sweets to share,(He)Knew every word in the dictionaryHe was clean, neat and tidyFrom Monday to Friday,I wish that I could be like,Wear clean clothes, talk properly likeDo sums and history like

EDWARD AND MICKEYMy friendMy friend

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EDWARDMy best friendHe could swear like a soldierYou would laugh till you diedAt the stories he told y’He was untidyFrom Monday to FridayI wish that I could be likeKick a ball and climb a tree likeRun around with dirty knees like

EDWARD AND MICKEYMy friendMy friend

Pen to paperKey questions:

1. In this scene, Mrs Johnstone gives Edward a locket. What might be the reason for giving Edward the locket and what could the potential consequences of this be?

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2. Edward gives Mickey a toy gun. Could this be the same toy gun that Edward’s father gave him? Why would this be significant?

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3. In the previous scene, we saw that Mrs Lyons was affected by Mr Lyons putting new shoes on the table. She clearly had been affected by the superstition. However, in this scene, when Edward references the magpie, Mr Lyons states ‘Edward…that’s just stupid superstition’ and Mrs Lyons states ‘Edward, I think we can forget the stupid things Mickey said.'

a. Why do you think Mrs Lyons has reverted back to her original beliefs? b. What does Edward’s use of the superstition reveal? c. How is the superstition used here as a sign of foreshadowing?

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4. How do you feel, as an audience, when Mickey and Edward are singing the song ‘My Friend’? Why are those emotions stirred up within you?

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New knowledge: New TownsEdward has moved to country through choice and in the next section of the play, we see that Mickey and the Johnstones are re-housed.

During the time in which the play is set, there was a significant re-housing development as part of the regeneration of Liverpool. The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate populations in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were developed in three waves. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the "overspill" population from densely populated areas of deprivation.Designated new towns were removed from local authority control and placed under the supervision of a development corporation. The urbanisation and development of Skelmersdale largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Industrial scale coal mining began in the early 19th century and continued to expand during that century to give rise to Skelmersdale as an important colliery village.

Skelmersdale was designated a New Town in 1961, designed to house overspill population from the north Merseyside conurbation. The town was the first in the second wave of designations.

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Skelmersdale endured mixed economic fortunes during the last three decades of the 20th century. With the economic downturn in the late 1970s large industrial employers left the town en masse, resulting in an increase in crime, drug abuse and poverty.

New knowledgeIn this section of the play, the Johnstones get news that they are being relocated to Skelmersdale.

The lights fade on EDWARD as the music shifts backs to ‘Long Sunday Afternoon.’

MICKEYFeels like everybody stayed in bedOr maybe I woke too soon.Am I the last survivorIs everybody dead?On this long, long, longSunday afternoon.

MRS JOHNSTONE appears, clutching a letter.

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing) Oh, bright new day,We're movin' away

MICKEY (speaking)Mam? What’s up?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing)We're startin' all over again

DONNA MARIE enters together with various neighbours.

DONNA MARIE (speaking)Is it a summons, Mother?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing)Oh. Bright new dayWe're going away

MICKEY (calling)Sammy!

MRS JOHNSTONE addresses the various onlookers.

How does this song show that friendship is a significant aspect of life during this time?

Why is it a bright new day?

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MRS JOHNSTONE (singing)Where nobody's heard of our name

SAMMY enters.

SAMMY (speaking)I never robbed nothin’, honest mam.

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing)Where we can begin again,Feel we can win and thenLive just like livin' should be.Got a new situation, A new destinationAnd no reputation following me. MICKEY (speaking)What is it, what is it?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing)We're getting outWe're movin' houseWe're starting all over again. We're leavin' this messFor our new address"Sixty-five Skelmersdale Lane"

MICKEY (speaking; worried)Where’s that, mam?

SAMMY (speaking) Is that in the country, mother?

DONNA MARIE (speaking)What's it like there?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (singing)The air is so pureYou get drunk just by breathing,And the washing stays clean on the line.Where there's space for the kidsThe garden's so big,It would take you a week just to reach the far side.(Speaking) Come on Sammy, Mickey, now you've all gorra help (To the NEIGHBOURS, in a ‘posh’

Do you think moving away will sort out all of their problems?

How are these images idealistic?

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voice). Erm would youse excuse us, we've gorra pack. We're movin' away.

MRS JOHNSTONE and the children go in to pack.

NEIGHBOUR What did she say?

MILKMANThey’re movin’s away.

ALLPraise the lord, he has delivered us at last

NEIGHBOURThey’re gettin’ out,They’re movin’ house,Life won’t be the same as in the past.

POLICEMANI can safely predictA sharp drop in the crime rate.

NEIGHBOURIt’ll be calm an’ peaceful around here.

MILKMANAND now I might evenGet paid what is mine, mate.

NEIGHBOURAn’ you’ll see, graffiti will soon disappear.

MRS JOHNSTONE marches out of the house carrying battered suitcases, followed by the children who are struggling to get out some of the items mentioned in the verse.

MRS. JOHNSTONE Just pack the bags, We're leavin' the rags,The wobbly wardrobe, chest of drawers that never close.The two legged chair, the carpet so bare.You wouldn't see it if it wasn't for the holesNow that we're movin'

What attitudes towards the Johnstone family are presented through other characters?

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Now that we're improvin'Let's just wash our hands of this lot.For it's no longer fitting, for me to be sittingOn a sofa, I know for a fact was knocked off

Her last line is delivered to SAMMY who indicates the POLICEMAN, trying to get her to shut up.

We might get a car,Be all 'lardie dah',An' go drivin' out to the sands. At the weekend, A gentleman friend,Might take me dancingTo the local bands.We'll have a front roomAnd then if it should happen, That His Holiness flies in from Rome,He can sit there with me, eating toast, drinking teaIn the sort of surroundings that remind him of home.

MICKEY (speaking)It's like the country, isn't it, mam?

MRS. JOHNSTONE (speaking)Ey, we'll be alright out there son, away from the muck an' the dirt an' the bloody trouble. Eh, I could dance. Come here.

MICKEYGet off...

MRS JOHNSTONE picks up a picture of the Pope which is lying next to one of the suitcases and begins to dance.

Oh, bright new day,We're movin' away,We're startin' all over again.Oh, bright new day,We're goin' away,Where' nobody's heard of our name. (Speaking) An’ what are you laughin’ at?

Knowing what you know, how do you feel towards Mrs Johnstone at this point?

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MICKEYI'm not laughin'. I'm smilin'. I haven't seen you happy like this for ages.

MRS. JOHNSTONE Well, I am happy now. Eh, Jesus, where's the others?

MICKEYThey went into that field, mum.

MRS. JOHNSTONE Sammy! SAMMY! Get off that bleedin' cow before I kill you. Sammy, that cow's a bull. Come here the pair of you.

MRS. JOHNSTONE Now we can begin again,Feel we can win an' then,Live just like livin' should be.Got a new situation, A new destination, An' no reputation following me.

ALL We're gettin' out. We're movin' houseWe're goin' away. Gettin' out today.We're movin' movin' movin' house.

MRS JOHNSTONE We're goin' away, oh, bright new day.

Curtain.

Is this a sign that you can take the Johnstones out of their current location but their characters will not change?

ReflectionAt the end of Act One, both Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone have a renewed sense of energy after moving away and have the opportunity to start afresh. The audience, however, know the fate that awaits both families. Why do you think Russell has constructed the plot – of both families moving to a new area – in this way?___________________________________________________________________

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