Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from next Tuesday
THE Grand Opera House in York holds special memories for Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle ahead of her appearance there as Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.
“I’m so delighted to be going back to York as I made my debut there as the Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1999 with Richard Swerrun – who’s sadly since passed away – as Joseph,” she recalls,
“I remember messing up the brothers’ names, saying ‘Zebedee’ instead of ‘Zebulun’, and do you know why? It’s because one of the ‘brothers’ said to me just before going on, ‘make sure you don’t say ‘Zebedee’…and of course I then said it! Oh, the humiliation!”
Vivienne went on to play adoptive mother Mrs Lyons, the rich, barren businessman’s wife up the hill for whom Mrs Johnstone cleans, in Blood Brothers on tour at the York theatre in 2008 and now takes top billing as Russell’s emotionally turbulent musical makes its tenth visit – yes, tenth – from April 1 .
“I’m originally from Glasgow, so I grew up at the King’s Theatre, where you couldn’t keep me off the stage from being a wee tot. I remember going to see Blood Brothers when I was eight years old with my mum and dad, sitting there, riveted, in silence,” says Vivienne, who “had the lovely honour of going back there in October to play Mrs Johnstone”.
Blood Brothers carries a minimum age recommendation of 12, but Vivienne was mesmerised by the musical all of four years younger. “Because you have adults playing kids in it, that captures your imagination,” she says.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Seán Keany’s Narrator in Blood Brothers. Picture: Jack Merriman
Vivienne saw the show a couple more times before joining the London cast in 2006, playing Mrs Lyons at the Phoenix and understudying Mrs Johnstone too. “Every so often, I would play Mrs Johnstone on tour,” she says. “One time, when Linda Nolan’s husband Brian had passed away, I was in Joseph at the time and they asked me if I could do a Saturday matinee of Blood Brothers, in Linda’s place, in Dunstable and then put me in a taxi back to High Wycombe for the evening performance as the Narrator in Joseph, which I played in the West End as well.”
Blood Brothers, a musical as powerful in impact as a Greek tragedy or an opera, tells the heartrending tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks in Liverpool, only to meet again with tragic consequences.
At its heart is Mrs Johnstone, a young mother deserted by her wastrel husband. Left to her own devices to provide for seven hungry children, she takes a job as a housekeeper to make ends meet, but discovers she is pregnant yet again, this time with twins. In a moment of weakness and desperation, she enters a secret pact with her employer, Mrs Lyons, with shattering consequences.
Note Mrs J is described as a ‘young mother’, and yet she has been played by actresses of myriad ages, Lyn Paul, for example, still playing her into her 70s. “The script direction says Mrs J ‘is 30 but looks 50,” says Vivienne, who gives her own age as “in the 40 to 50 bracket”. “It works, whatever age, because she starts the story at the end, in the boys’ adult years.
“I started playing her in my 30s, considered very young for the role, and after playing her for nine months just before it closed in the West End in 2012, I’m now coming back to it from a 12-year gap, after all the curve balls that life throws at you.”
“It always has to be as raw and authentic as possible to make it believable,” says Vivienne Carlyle. “You feel those emotions every time you do it, and that’s a testimony to Willy Russell’s writing.” Picture: Jack Merriman
Vivienne believes she benefited from playing Mrs Lyons first. “Very much so. Even from the perspective of working with all the other great Mrs Johnstones, seeing their creative processes,” she says.
“It gives you the perspective of both these women, both trying to do the best they can in their different ways. I’ve had so many mothers come up to me to say that when Mrs Johnstone gives her child Mickey away to Mrs Lyons, they can feel their heart turn.”
Blood Brothers remains as potent as ever, as much a fixture on the GCSE English Literature syllabus as on the theatre calendar. “We have a really wonderful director in Bob Tomson, who instills in us that it always has to be as raw and authentic as possible to make it believable. You feel those emotions every time you do it, or every time you see it, and that’s a testimony to Willy’s writing.
“The songs are iconic too, Tell Me It’s Not , Easy Terms, and it amazes me still when young people come to the stage door to tell me how much they love the show, buying into the 1950s to 1990s story; the culture and the politics; whether it’s fate or not fate. But no matter what age you are, you will connect with it.”
On tour since January, Vivienne is into the final three weeks of the spring itinerary. “We don’t yet know the casting for the rest of the year but of course I’d like to continue in it,” she concludes.
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, April 1 to 5, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/York. Age recommendation: 12 plus.
Vivienne Carlyle: the back story
Vivienne Carlyle: First appeared at Grand Opera House, York, in 1999 as the Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
SCOTTISH Scottish actor, singer and voiceover artist, who works in the UK and internationally.
Theatre credits include: Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers (Phoenix Theatre, London and UK Tour); Songbird in Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco (South American tour); Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West End debut at New London Theatre and on tour); The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello Theatre, Original London Cast); Grizabella in Cats (Royal Caribbean); Usha in Lightseeker (Resort World Theatre, Singapore); Mrs Walker in The Who’s Tommy (UK tour); Queen Cackle in Geronimo Stilton Live On Stage (Singapore, Hong Kong); Mother Gothel in Tangled The Musical and Lady Tremaine in Twice Charmed (Broadway guest artist, Disney Cruise Line); Songs For
Everafter, one-woman show of Disney classics (also co-writer, Disney
Cruise Line).
TV credits include: Country singer Mindy McCready in Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Mindy
McCready (ITV); Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Blue Peter (BBC).
Recording credits include: ALBA, 1719, Sands Of Time and Showtime for
Scottish Opera, Shehallion and Lightseeker (Original Cast Recording).
Performed backing vocals for Barry Manilow, Michael Bolton and Dina Carroll.
