Blood Brothers Marilyn Monroe. Social/Historical context What information can we glean from the song...

Blood BrothersMarilyn Monroe

Social/Historical context• What information can we glean from the song ‘Marilyn

Monroe’ about Mrs Johnstone and her life?• What evidence is there here to suggest she belongs to a

particular class? • What is Russell telling the audience about the role of

working class women at the time?• What can we understand about the class system in

Britain between the 1950s and the 1980s?• What evidence is there in the way Mrs Johnstone and

Mrs Lyons speak to set them apart?

1980’s – Margaret Thatcher’s Britain

1980 - John Lennon assassinated

198111 April 1981 Racial tensions spark Brixton riots

29 July 1981 Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer

1982

Economic recession leads to high unemployment

Argentina invades the Falkland Islands

1983Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is re-elected by a landslide

1983 Madonna's debut album is released

1984

Twelve-month 'Miners' Strike' beginsIRA bomb Conservative conference in Brighton

19853 July Live Aid concerts take place simultaneously in London and Philadelphia to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia

1986

Space shuttle Challenger explodes Chernobyl nuclear disaster

198711 June 1987 Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wins a third term DNA First Used to Convict Criminals

1988First ever Red Nose Day for Comic Relief

41 arrested for hooliganism at Arsenal v Millwall game

1989Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web November 1989 Berlin Wall falls

1990Introduction of new local taxes sparks 'poll tax' riots in London

Margaret Thatcher resigns and John Major becomes prime minister

Homework – for Tuesday 30th June.

1 Family tree• In your book make a family

tree for the Johnstone and Lyons families

• 2 Superstition• Complete the superstition

table in your book

3 Mini essay:• How far does superstition

have an influence on the events of the play?

• You can write up to 500 words, using brief quotes.

Timeline for Blood Brothers

• Mr and Mrs Johnstone got married probably in the late 1950s (Marilyn Monroe is mentioned in the song)

• Mrs Johnstone was probably around 18 when she got married• Mrs Johnstone pregnant with eldest child• She has seven children by the time she is 25 (but looks like 42)• 25/26 when the twins are born mid 1960s• She is working for Mrs Lyons who has been married for 10 years so

probably aged 30.• Mickey and Eddie meet aged 7 – early 1970s- Sammy is 10• Eddie and Mickey turn 14 (act 2) late 1970s• Edward goes to university aged 18/19 – early to mid 1980s• Linda gets pregnant (about 18)• Mickey gets sent to prison• Linda and Mickey’s daughter, Sarah is at school by the ending – late

1980s

How does Willy Russell use the character of Mrs Johnstone to explore ideas about class in Blood Brothers?

• Social context of the play – when it is set and when it was written

• Political influences on the writer• How Mrs Johnstone and her family represent the

‘working-class’• Superstition used as a tool to manipulate Mrs Johnstone• Living conditions of Mrs Johnstone as an indicator of a

rigid class system• Use of speech (dialect) to show differences in class• Contrast to ‘middle class’ values in the story

Mrs Johnstone

“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.”

“And do we blame superstition for what came to pass?Or could it be what we, the English have come to know as class?”