Kilkenny College students do justice to Blood Brothers

On first inspection Kilkenny College on the city’s Castlecomer road is a typically bustling secondary school.
Students mill about in the warm mid-May pre-exam sunshine. Boys and girls are on pitches playing sports of all kinds.
On closer inspection, tucked away in what they call The McAdoo Hall is a group of students who are feverishly preparing for their school play.
This year is the fifth production that the Kilkenny College Drama Society has produced and saw Willie Russell’s Blood Brothers come to life on their stage.
Students from second year to Leaving Cert worked side by side to prepare for their final show of the year.
Rehearsals started in January shortly after their One Act play production finished at Christmas.
Previous shows undertaken by the troupe include Dancing at Lughnasa, A Knight to Remember, Johnny Baluba – Teenage Detective and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Students start the year with a month of fun workshops before they audition for a part in the chosen play.
Then the serious, hard work begins.
Being part of the cast or crew demands a lot of labour and commitment from the students.
The pay-off was the applause and the admiration of staff and fellow students following the highly successful three night run of Blood Brothers.
A fully professional sound and light set up, provided by Broderick’s, provided a great back-drop and showed the determination of the group to put on a successful production with instruments and microphones all over the place.
This was the first time the Drama Department had teamed up with the Music Department which brought so much to the show.
It also allowed more students than normal to get involved in drama at school.
Mr Jerry Clarke directed and Ms Trini Kenny produced the shows. Both are teachers in the College.
Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell.
The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family.
The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison.
They fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift and leading to the tragedy.
Russell said his work was based on a one-act play he read as a child
Developed as a school play, Blood Brothers debuted in Liverpool before Russell transferred it to West End for a short run in 1983.