Sweeney Todd

The Fellowship Players’ productions never fail to deliver a good evening’s entertainment, and this performance of Sweeney Todd, set in the Victorian era, was no exception. It was haunting and thrilling. Director, Rachel Holmes, unafraid as always of challenge, built in tension with some shocking, dramatical dark moments in the delivery of this wordy two act script, a story that unfolded in19  scenes. The play sustained its atmospheric tension with sound design and visual effects right until the end, injecting horror, suspense and some gruesome action.  The cast was well appointed and confident, the characters well-conceived. The dialogue overall well-paced and sharp, though some verbal exchanges at the start felt unnecessarily lengthy.

­­This was a tale of an English barber who had been married to Lucy, and they had a daughter, Johanna. The beauty of Lucy had attracted the attention of the corrupt Judge Turpin, who falsely accused the barber of a crime he did not commit and was transported to Australia. Returning to London, after 15 years, he met a widow, Mrs Lovett, the owner of a meat pie shop, who told him that Lucy had swallowed arsenic to escape Turpin’s lecherous clutches and Johanna had since been made his ward. Sweeney Todd vowed revenge on evil Judge Turpin and his accomplice, Beadle Bamford. Mrs Lovett returned his old straight razors to him and Todd opened a barber shop above her pie shop. When Todd encountered a rival barber, Pirelli, who tried to blackmail him, he applied his razor; his first victim. From then on, revenge and anger became directed at anyone who sat in his red leather barber chair, who he felt had wronged him, initiating a crime rampage against anyone. Pie shop owner, Mrs Lovett, became his accomplice and a sinister partnership with Todd was forged, with corpses processed into meat pies down below in the cellar. Johanna, now a young woman, Turpin’s ward, and a sailor named Anthony Hope, who Todd met sailing into London, had fallen in love with each other from afar. Turpin now lusted after Johanna with unwanted affection and wanted to marry her; he would do anything to get Anthony out of the way. He invites Anthony into the house where he had spotted Johanna in an upstairs room, only to be thrown out by Beadle and warned. Anthony disregarded such threats and became convinced that he and Johanna were meant to be together. In the subsequent scene Todd was seen shaving Turpin while preparing to slit his throat; before he could do so Anthony burst in and revealed his plan to elope with Johanna before he realised Turpin was there. Turpin left enraged, vowing never to return. His chance at revenge missed, Todd vented his murderous rage upon his customers waiting for another chance to kill Turpin. He rigged his barber’s chair with a pedal operated mechanism which deposited his victims through a trap door into Mrs Lovett’s bake house in the cellar below. Beadle Bamford arrived at the barber shop informing them that neighbours had complained of the stink from the premises. He too, was murdered by Todd. Toby, who had been Pirelli’s apprentice, had no idea where Pirelli had disappeared to, but grew happy helping  Mrs Lovett in the shop;  he had become though suddenly wary of Todd, though unaware of her role in the crimes. Fearing discovery of the truth Mrs Lovett locked Toby up in the cellar. Later Toby was nowhere to be found. He had hidden in the sewers, horrified with a realisation of what had been happening, after finding a fingernail in a pie. Meanwhile lovestruck Anthony freed Johanna from Turpin’s house. The play concluded with Todd discovering that the beggar woman he murdered in his chair, was Lucy, who he had believed to be dead according to Mrs Lovett. She tried to convince Todd that she had misled him for his own good, confessing that she loved him. In fury he hurled her into the open furnace and locked her in. He returned to Lucy and cradled her dead body in his arms. An angry Toby crept into the barber shop, picked up the discarded razor and slit Sweeny Todd’s throat. Quite a story!

Set design for this production was awesome, reflecting typically the Victorian pie shop, complete with baking counter and shelves of crusty pies. The interior of the barber’s shop was slightly elevated with steps to impress the audience it was above the shop with upstairs windows offering views of the street below. It was furnished with a large trunk and a sizeable barber’s red leather chair, that could be manoeuvred to face a trap door where dead bodies were jettisoned at speed down a shoot, leading to the cellar, when the lever on the chair was pulled! I have to say this was remarkable mechanism to watch and operated by Sweeny Todd so rapidly This construction was totally impressive, as was the furnace in the cellar in the final scene changes. Set design is credited to Rachel and the set build team and chair construction (Sam Evans and Peter McDermott) so worthy of high praise for remarkable visual achievement, along with outstanding special effects (Colin Mears). Victorian style costuming was accurate and catered appropriately for all classes and characters represented, further complimenting the play with careful detail.

Dominic Holmes, in the title role was credible, embodying a dark personality. He conveyed manipulation, deceit and vengeance convincingly. His movements controlled and deliberate. He appeared gloomy and self-absorbed as his character dictated, consumed by loss and revenge, but he was equally ferocious holding his razor. An excellent performance, Dominic, faultless. Christina Peak was so well cast as Mrs Lovett. She was clearly in love with Sweeny Todd, but she was calculating and cold and showed remarkable indifference to Todd’s killings. She had her own ambitions and her business became profitable. Her matter of fact, erratic movements, superficial smiles and soothing gestures suggested her to be motherly, but she was cunning and manipulative. I enjoyed Christina’s performance very much. Chris Pilkington projected his role as Anthony Hope with charm and energy and Alan Lowe delivered the part of Beadle appropriately  pompous  as a public officer, deeply loyal to the corrupt Judge Turpin. Noel Redfern portrayed his role of Judge Turpin fittingly, as a sanctimonious authority, who took advantage of his position in the city. He used sharp vocal tones when reprimanding and dismissive hand gestures to emphasise his status over others. Dave Mills played the part of simple-minded Tobias Ragg with much expression and energy, his antics and confusions endearing to the audience. Johanna, Sweeney Todd’s long lost daughter, oozed with innocence and serenity, her voice calm, her responses, cool. Caitlin Griffin appeared suitably deranged and troubled as a beggar woman, who harboured a dark, surprising secret. Harry Parker presented the part of Pirelli with a flamboyance that seemed so natural. Jill Simkin was Jonas Fogg, who sold the hair of madmen to wigmakers. She appeared mysterious in character. Other supportive roles observed in small crowd scenes were key to the events that followed.

 This was another success for the director, Rachel as confirmed by the loud applause from the appreciative audience. Congratulations to the cast and crew who had worked so hard to make this the success it was. Thank you for inviting me.

 

 

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