Blood Brothers cast announced for Spring 2026

Bill Kenwright’s legendary, award-winning production of the international smash hit musical, Blood Brothers has announced its Spring 2026 cast ahead of the production’s arrival at Sunderland Empire on Tuesday 17 March where it runs until Saturday 21 March 2026.

Vivienne Carlyle will continue as Mrs. Johnstone having gained widespread critical acclaim and nightly standing ovations on the show’s most recent tours.

Richard Munday rejoins Blood Brothers as the Narrator, at certain venues, after playing the role on the 2022–2023 UK tour. He will share the part with Kristofer Harding, a role he first played in 2016 and returned to in the most recent 2025 tour.

Fresh from alternating the role of Elphaba in Wicked(Apollo Victoria) and covering Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Sunset Boulevard(Savoy), Laura Harrison returns to Blood Brothers. Harrison previously played Donna Marie in the 2015 tour and is now taking on the role of Mrs Lyons.

Sean Jones and Joe Sleight will also be returning as the twin brothers, Mickey and Eddie and Gemma Brodrick will continue to play Linda.

Also reprising their roles are Michael Gillett (Sammy), Tim Churchill (Mr Lyons), Francesca Benton-Stace (Donna Marie/Miss Jones), Latesha Karisa (Brenda), Danny Knott (Perkins), Dominic Gore (Neighbour), Alex Harland (Policeman/Teacher) and Graeme Kinniburgh (Postman/Bus Conductor).

Written by award-winning playwright Willy Russell, few musicals have been received with such acclaim as the multi-award-winning Blood Brothers. Considered ‘one of the best musicals ever’ (Sunday Times), Bill Kenwright’s production surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End and has been affectionately christened the ‘Standing Ovation Musical’, as inevitably it “brings the audience cheering to its feet and roaring its approval” (Daily Mail).

This epic tale of Liverpool life started as a play, performed at a Liverpool comprehensive school in 1981, before opening at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983. The musical has since triumphed across the globe, completing sell out seasons in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan, and scooping up four awards for Best Musical in London and seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway.

Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences.

When Mrs Johnstone, a young mother, is deserted by her husband and left to her own devices to provide for seven hungry children she takes a job as a housekeeper in order to make ends meet. It is not long before her brittle world crashes around her when she discovers herself to be pregnant yet again – this time with twins! In a moment of weakness and desperation, she enters a secret pact with her employer which leads inexorably to the show’s shattering climax.

Willy Russell is one of this country’s leading contemporary dramatists. His countless credits include Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Educating Rita, originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, enjoyed a two-year run in the West End and was made into a movie starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Shirley Valentine also made the move from stage to screen in an enormously popular film starring Pauline Collins and Tom Conti. The production made a triumphant return to the West End in 2023 with Sheridan Smith.

Blood Brothers plays at Sunderland Empire’s stage Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 March 2026. Tickets are available here.