Blood Brothers - Characters test questions - Edexcel

1

Read the extract below and use it to answer questions 1-3.

MICKEY
Do you live up in the park?
EDWARD
Yes. Are you going to come and play up there again?
MICKEY
No. I would do but I’m not allowed.
EDWARD
Why?
MICKEY
’Cos me mam says.
EDWARD
Well, my mummy doesn’t allow me to play down here actually.
MICKEY
’Gis a sweet.
EDWARD
All right. (He offers a bag from his pocket.)
MICKEY
(shocked) What?
EDWARD
Here.
MICKEY
(trying to work out the catch; suspiciously taking one) Can I have another one. For our Sammy?
EDWARD
Yes, of course. Take as many as you want.
MICKEY
(taking a handful) Are you soft?
EDWARD
I don’t think so.
MICKEY
Round here if y’ ask for a sweet, y’ have to ask about, about twenty million times. An ’y’ know what?
EDWARD
(sitting beside MICKEY) What?
MICKEY
They still don’t bleedin’ give y’ one. Sometimes our Sammy does but y’ have to be dead careful if our Sammy gives y’ a sweet.

Why is it important that Mickey and Edward’s accents are so different?

2

Why is Edward happy to give Mickey more sweets?

3

Why is Mickey surprised that Edward gives him sweets?

4

Read the extract below and use it to answer questions 4-6.

(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.)
EDWARD
Daddy... we haven’t finished the story yet.
MR LYONS
Mummy 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 LYONS
Richard you didn’t say...
MR LYONS
Darling, 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 LYONS
I 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.
EDWARD
Daddy, how do you spell bogey man?
MR LYONS
Ask mummy. Darling, I’ll see you later now. Must dash.
(MR LYONS exits.)

How does the Lyons family seem in the stage directions at the start of this extract?

5

How does Mrs Lyons feel about Mr Lyons being away from the family?

6

Why is Mrs Lyons more worried than Mr Lyons about the time he spends away from Edward?

7

Read the extract below and use it to answer questions 7-10.

MICKEY
Where’s me tablets gone, Linda?
LINDA
Mickey you don’t need your tablets!
MICKEY
Linda!
LINDA
Mickey. You’re workin’ now, we’re livin’ on our own – you've got to start makin’ an effort.
MICKEY
Give them to me, Linda.
LINDA
You promised.
MICKEY
I know I promised but I can’t do without them. I tried. Last week I tried to do without them. By dinner time I was shakin’ an’ sweating so much I couldn’t even work. I need them. That’s all there is to it. Now give.
(Pause)
LINDA
Is that it then? Are y’ gonna stay on them forever?
MICKEY
Linda.
LINDA
Look... we’ve managed to sort ourselves out this far but what’s the use if -
MICKEY
We have sorted ourselves out? Do you think I’m really stupid?
LINDA
What?
MICKEY
I didn’t sort anythin’ out Linda. Not a job, not a house, nothin’. It used to be just sweets an’ ciggies he gave me, because I had none of me own. Now it’s a job and a house. I’m not stupid, Linda. You sorted it out. You an’ Councillor Eddie Lyons.
(LINDA doesn’t deny it.)
Now give me the tablets... I need them.
LINDA
An’ what about what I need? I need you. I love you. But, Mickey, not when you’ve got them inside you. When you take those things, Mickey, I can’t even see you.
MICKEY
That’s why I take them. So I can be invisible.
(Pause.)
Now give me them.
(Music. We see LINDA hand MICKEY her bag.)
(MICKEY quickly grabs the tablets.)
(MICKEY exits.)

Why doesn’t Linda want Mickey to take his tablets?

8

How is Mickey presented in the latter part of the play?

9

What is the significance of Edward arranging Mickey and Linda’s house and Mickey’s job?

10

How has Linda changed from the start of the play?