Willy Russell is a dramatist and lyricist known for his depictions of English blue-collar life, as well as his blending of musical genres. Blood Brothers shows both of these qualities of his work prominently. He showcases the financial difficulties of Mickey's life with scoring that mixes rock instruments and a traditional theater pit band. His musical concerns largely reflect his dramatic ones, as he seeks to dignify and elevate his characters while also reflecting their roots. Russell revisits these ideas in his two other most well-known works, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, both of which feature working-class protagonists in Liverpool struggling to find satisfaction and meaning in their lives.
Educating Rita follows a love affair between Susan, a young hairdresser, and Frank, a middle-aged professor. Feeling frustrated by her daily life, Susan enrolls in an English literature course at a local university. She meets Frank, who has been assigned to her as her tutor. The two are drawn to each other immediately, as Frank appreciates Susan's excitement and adventurousness, while Susan finds that Frank's education allows her to feel more secure about her intelligence and move in different social circles. However, their relationship is stymied by Frank's alcoholism and vitriolic cynicism. They drift as Susan becomes more ingrained in university culture. Susan then becomes disillusioned with her new friends as she finds that, despite their education, they are no less shallow and selfish than her old social circle. The play concludes with Frank being sent to Australia for a research opportunity. The play shows how they both grow as a result of their relationship but ultimately must part ways to seek fulfillment.
Shirley Valentine is about Shirley, a married housewife who is unhappy with the circumstances of her life. She feels that her family doesn't appreciate her hard work around the house and thinks of her as a servant. Lonely and frustrated, she jumps at the chance to take a vacation to Greece when her friend wins a contest. In Greece, she discovers a newfound happiness and no longer feels the weight of domestic obligations. She is so happy there that she ultimately decides to stay, leaving her friend at the airport and returning to the hotel she stayed at to ask for a permanent job there. The story highlights the way in which Shirley's labor limits her freedom and happiness.
While these plays have happier endings than Blood Brothers, they cover a similar thematic territory. They examine the limits and challenges of a financially strained existence while focusing on protagonists who want (and deserve) more meaning in their lives. Mickey, Rita, and Shirley are aware that there is satisfaction out there, in education, love, and even work, but wrestle with how to find it. He also shows how money plays a significant role in limiting the character's opportunities to find this satisfaction. In Russell's musicals and plays, the characters hope there is some brighter day on the horizon.
