Mrs Johnstone & the Pact
A Mother With No Choice
The opening of Blood Brothers introduces Mrs Johnstone as a woman defined by what she lacks. Abandoned by her husband, she is left to raise seven children alone on a cleaner’s wage. Russell establishes her poverty immediately: she buys everything on credit (“living on the never-never”), is threatened by debt collectors, and is told by a welfare officer that she cannot cope with more children. When she discovers she is expecting twins, she is not joyful — she is terrified.
Russell’s purpose here is clear. Mrs Johnstone does not give away her child because she is a bad mother — she does it because poverty leaves her with no real choice. The audience is meant to feel sympathy, not judgement. Russell positions the working class as victims of a system that punishes them for being poor.
Mrs Johnstone gives away her son because of three converging pressures: crippling debt (“living on the never-never”), the threat of losing her other children to social services, and Mrs Lyons’ manipulation. Russell makes it clear that the decision is not about character — it is about class and the impossible choices poverty forces on working-class women.
Mrs Lyons and the Manipulation
Mrs Lyons is presented as the opposite of Mrs Johnstone: wealthy, educated, and outwardly respectable. However, she is also lonely, anxious, and desperate for a child. When she learns Mrs Johnstone is expecting twins, she sees an opportunity. Russell shows Mrs Lyons carefully manipulating Mrs Johnstone — first with sympathy, then with practical arguments (“you said yourself, you had too many children already”), and finally with the threat of superstition.
The power imbalance is crucial. Mrs Lyons is Mrs Johnstone’s employer. She has financial power, social status, and education. Mrs Johnstone has none of these. Russell uses this relationship to show how the middle class exploits the working class — not through cruelty, but through a system where wealth gives one person power over another.
Mrs Lyons makes Mrs Johnstone swear on the Bible that she will give up one twin and never tell anyone the truth. She then invents the superstition that separated twins who discover the truth will both immediately die. This is a lie — Mrs Lyons makes it up on the spot — but it has devastating power over Mrs Johnstone, who is superstitious by nature.
Russell uses this moment to show how knowledge and education can be weaponised. Mrs Lyons is intelligent enough to exploit Mrs Johnstone’s beliefs. The Bible oath adds religious weight to a purely secular contract. The audience recognises the manipulation, creating dramatic irony — we see the exploitation that Mrs Johnstone cannot.
Superstition as a Tool of Control
Superstition runs through the entire play, but Russell uses it in a deliberately ambiguous way. On one level, the superstition “works” — the twins do die when they discover they are brothers. On another level, Russell makes it clear that class inequality, not supernatural forces, is the real cause of the tragedy. The Narrator’s recurring refrain — “the devil’s got your number” — keeps the audience uncertain about whether fate or society is to blame.
Mrs Johnstone is superstitious throughout: she fears broken mirrors, shoes on tables, and the number thirteen. These beliefs make her vulnerable to Mrs Lyons’ manipulation. Russell connects superstition to powerlessness — when people feel they have no control over their lives, they turn to superstition for explanations. The working class, denied real agency by the system, are more susceptible to believing that fate controls their destiny.
Mrs Lyons invents the superstition that separated twins will die if they learn the truth. This lie controls Mrs Johnstone for decades. Russell uses superstition as a metaphor: the working class are kept in their place not just by economics but by fear and false beliefs — both supernatural and social (the myth of meritocracy).
Mrs Johnstone’s opening song compares herself to Marilyn Monroe — a glamorous figure who represents the excitement and romance Mrs Johnstone once dreamed of. Her husband told her she was “sexier than Marilyn Monroe”, but walked out and left her to raise the children alone.” The Marilyn Monroe motif recurs throughout the play, each time with increasing irony: the dreams Mrs Johnstone once had are further and further from her reality.
Russell uses the song form to give Mrs Johnstone a direct emotional connection with the audience. The musical format of Blood Brothers allows characters to express feelings they cannot articulate in dialogue. Mrs Johnstone’s songs are always hopeful and warm, even when her situation is desperate — this makes her sympathetic and reinforces the injustice of her circumstances.
Russell’s Presentation of Motherhood
Russell contrasts two models of motherhood. Mrs Johnstone is instinctive, affectionate, and permissive — she lets her children play out, feeds them chips and sweets, and expresses love through physical warmth. Mrs Lyons is anxious, controlling, and overprotective — she keeps Eddie indoors, monitors his friendships, and expresses love through material provision. Neither is a perfect mother, but Russell clearly favours Mrs Johnstone’s natural warmth over Mrs Lyons’ bought security.
The contrast suggests that money cannot buy genuine human connection. Mrs Lyons has everything Mrs Johnstone lacks — except emotional stability and authentic love. As the play progresses, Mrs Lyons becomes increasingly paranoid and violent, while Mrs Johnstone remains warm and generous. Russell uses this to argue that wealth corrupts and poverty, while devastating, does not destroy human goodness.