Sweeney Todd

Set in Victorian London, after fifteen years in exile after being falsely accused of a crime, Benjamin Barker returns to London under the new identity of Sweeney Todd, seeking revenge over the corrupt Judge Turpin who had attracted the attention of his wife Lucy, abusing her and gaining custody of Todd’s daughter Johanna. He meets the widow Mrs. Lovett who is the owner of a meat pie shop who tells him that Lucy swallowed arsenic many years ago and that Turpin had assigned himself tutor of Johanna. Barker opens a barber shop above her store, initiating a crime rampage against those who made him suffer and lose his beloved family.

Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics are complex and always very difficult to perform but Trinity provided us with an excellent evenings internment with some great characterisations and singing.

Right from the beginning Simeon Green had a great presence as Sweeny Todd and worked well with both Anthony Hope and Mrs Lovett but his character really came alive when he started to sing. A fantastic voice with plenty of light and shade he gave excellent renditions of all his songs especially “My Friends” and “Epiphany”.

Sarah Francis Played Mrs Lovett for all her comedic value and you would never had thought that at the beginning of the week she was so ill she was unable to go on stage. Both Sarah and Simeon combined well on” A little priest”.

I think a mention must be made to Louise Colohan who played Young Lucy very well and has a great voice but also because she stood as Mrs Lovett when Sarah was unwell at extremely short notice. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the performance but it does show the true society spirit and team work that Trinity have.

There were some technical difficulties with the chair not resetting but the cast coped with this very well.

It was good to see the relationship develop between Anthony Hope played by Andrew Jones and Johanna Baker played by Laura Matthews. Laura’s soprano voice sounded great in "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" and Andrew sang “Johanna” with real feeling.

Simon Matthews direction had some great highlights and the   duel level staging was used to its max. I especially liked the interpretation of the “Letter” as this was passed along the before reaching Sweeny.

Mike Richardson’s musical direction kept the pace and intensity in the music but also gave freedom for the principles to express the subtler characteristics or comic moods. The chorus also performed well always creating interest on stage and producing some well drilled harmonies. The last number especially had the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.

Sarah Masterson as the Beggar Woman/Lucy Barker gave a great performance switching between beggar and street walker showing the obvious insanity into which she had been driven

Judge Turpin (John Beech) and Beagle Bamford (Simon Hoffman) were both well played as was Jonas Fogg (Jon Ranwell).

Adolfo Pirelli (Paolo Pinto) was well portrayed as the flamboyant Italian barber and rival to Sweeny. It was good to see the change of character when he reveals his true identity as not Italian at all.

When I saw that Tobias Ragg was to be played by a female, I was uncertain as how this would work out but Beth Matthews played the part excellently end she sang “not while I’m around” with great feeling and transformed her character well from the mild mannered apprentice to the insane, broken and vengeful killer at the end.

A great evening with some excellent all round performances and choral singing, the meat pies in the bar were good as well. Thanks for the hospitality and I look forward to the next show.

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