Willy Russell’s first play roots itself in 1970s Liverpool on a run-of-the-mill council estate. There we find a close-knit family headed up by sisters Betty and Reeny. Together with their husbands and sister-in-law Vera, they consider themselves a tight unit drawn together at Christmas, but jealousy, rivalry, and grudges rumble beneath the surface. Their lives have become a race to discover whose sofa cost more and which family can afford central heating. When Betty's daughter, Sandra, announces that she is pregnant and has no intention of marrying her student boyfriend, Tim, their world implodes. Frustrations, harsh truths, and honest desires are revealed as the family grapples with the demands of social conventions of the time. At times laugh-out-loud funny, while at other times agonizingly heartbreaking, Russell’s play is an honest peek into the joys and struggles of a 1970s working-class family.
Breezeblock Park guide sections
