Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

What better day to watch Sweeney Todd spilling the life blood of his victims than on All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) and listening to the tortuous music of Stephen Sondheim. Any society that takes on Sondheim’s is to be applauded, but for an actor to learn his songs in two weeks takes courage, or foolhardiness.

I am pleased to say that Phil Melia took on this challenge with success to allow Watlington Players to successfully present this show. Having seen this show for the third time, the second this year it is interesting to see the different approaches, this is essentially a dark tale set in the dark and dismal streets of the 19th Century City of London and as such should create a dark and dreary atmosphere, the bright and well-lit brick lined set did not give us that. Even the Programme tells us that the Company are ‘Commenting on the events in the dark streets of London’. We did however have a shabby looking upper room that held a rather well designed and built Barber’s Chair that rapidly disposed of Sweeney Todd’s victims.

The undoubted stars of the show were Dorcia Bowden-Noble who gave a masterclass in creating the well-rounded and acceptably wicked character of Mrs. Lovett. Great stage presence, a lovely voice she had a face full of expression and character. Very well costumed, good makeup and perfectly natural in her acting, great comedy timing, I loved the slide down the steps. Opposite her as a partner in horror was the wronged barber Benjamin Barker who takes on the name of Sweeney Todd, this was a really good performance from Phil Melia who revealed a darker self in this role, well sung and performed considering stepping in at the last minute, I commend him for his learning this role so well. Great singing from these two for the songs in Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop scene and again in Mrs. Lovett’s Parlour. These two were a great pairing and worked very well together.

Lee Clifton took on the role of Anthony Hope, a young sailor who was paired with Maddy Bush as Johanna, this was a good pairing although I found Lee’s voice a little quiet at times, they gave us a nice trio of songs in the Below Johanna’s Window and at St Dunstan’s Church scenes. Some good interaction between this pairing and Ian Gooda as Judge Turpin and Steve Jackson as the Beadle, I had hoped that the Judge would come across as a more malevolent and sanctimonious character and had put more darkness in his flagellation scene. The Beadle did not come across as a conniving and violent man that he should be portrayed as. There was a good performance from Lorna Coote who had taken on the role of Toby, who in the first instance is seen as the assistant of Pirelli before becoming the assistant in the Pie shop who eventually discovers the evil deeds this was a dialogue only role. Her Mother Mikayla was the Beggar Woman. Mikayla played the role well however was not as disheveled as I had expected but appeared to enjoy the role and was appreciated by the audience. Dale Hornsby gave a good representation of the Italian Pirelli and he also doubled as the proprietor of the lunatic asylum.

There was a small chorus of nine, not a lot of company work but they added to the vocals in the company numbers, well sung and drilled. Not a lot of opportunity for choreography but movement on stage was well thought through and designed. A lot of work had gone into this production, the sound was good, there was good makeup and costumes and use was made of the whole stage and front apron with stairs. A very well-made chair (thanks I presume to Barry Ayres), and as one or two friends said to me, this was a good production, well done to the production team.

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