By Alan Ayckbourn

Synopsis

Victorian London: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd sets the scene for the awful tale about to unfold. Down at the docks, two men disembark and greet their native city. For Anthony, There's No Place Like London. Sweeney Todd echoes the sentiment but for different reasons: to him London is a hell hole.

Todd journeys to Fleet Street and Mrs. Lovett's shop, wherein are sold The Worst Pies In London. There are lodgings above, with a dark history: there was a gentlemanly barber who worked and lived there with a young daughter and a pretty wife who attracted the attentions of a corrupt Judge and his Beadle. They had the barber unjustly transported, lured his sweet, naive wife to the Judge's house, where she was raped and her child taken from her. The barber was never seen again, the wife took poison, but the girl Johanna still lives with the Judge. Mrs. Lovett, no fool, returns the tools of his trade, carefully kept by her since his conviction. My Friends, murmurs Todd, caressing his razors. He takes the lodgings.

Outside Judge Turpin's house, a Birdseller's Green Finch and Linnet Bird are serenaded by another helpless caged creature from the highest window in the house: the beautiful Johanna. Anthony spies her from afar and falls helplessly in love. The Judge has different ideas.

A  rival barber, Pirelli, demonstrates the remarkable properties of his Miracle Elixir - Todd challenges Pirellis to a shaving competition. Business subsequently booms for Todd but, obsessed, he awaits only the Beadle's custom. Wait, Mrs. Lovett advises: vengeance will be his. By the end of the first Act Todd has an Epiphany, vowing revenge on all humanity; Mrs. Lovett, practical as always, hatches a devilish plan…

Act II begins with Mrs. Lovett's distinctive pies being the talk of Fleet Street. God, That's Good, belch her patrons. With such a harmonious business partnership, she is keen to put relations with Mr. Todd on a more intimate footing but Todd's mind has been twisted by hate and he thinks only of Judge Turpin and Johanna, now incarcerated in Fogg’s madhouse.

Mrs. Lovett's new help, Tobias, is fearful of Todd, but no-one will harm her, he promises. Suspicious that he suspects something, she locks him in the bake-house. Meanwhile, Beadle Bamford arrives and the wheels of fate are notched up a gear as a series of events race to the gruesome finale.

Cast

Sweeney Todd

Ralph Thomas

Nellie Lovett

Janet Holloway

Anthony Hope

Rick Thomas

Johanna

Rhiannon Rose

Judge Turpin

Laurence Clarke

Beadle Bamford

Paul Buckle

Beggar Woman

Lorna Welch

Pirelli

Tim Brown

Tobias

Richard Thomas

Fogg

Nigel Holloway

       With

Claire Couldridge, Ellie Hoare, Liz Howson, Cheryl Payne, Bev Pearce, Adam Pitt, Helen Rose, Lisa Sadie, Fiona Thomas, Roger Thomas,

Sarah-Jane Waters, Helen Windsor

 

Production & Backstage

Director            Ruairidh MacLeod-Lyon
Musical Director Jo Herco
Assistant Musical Director Nicky Rose
Choreographer Richard Thomas
Production        Paul Buckle, Catherine Dafydd, Nigel Holloway, Janet Holloway, Ruairidh MacLeod-Lyon, Lisa Sadie, Fiona Thomas
Publicity          

Lisa Sadie, Paul Buckle & Nigel Holloway
Lighting            Clare Williams, Kevin Morgan, Catherine Dafydd
Sound Laura McMahon
Wardrobe Mistress Catherine Dafydd
Costume Design & Construction

Fiona Thomas, Lisa Sadie, Ciara Charnley, Paul Buckle, Janet Holloway
Stage Manager Liz Tomala
Crew John Payne, Lynda Quinlan and Friends of Concept
Band Nicky Rose, Mike Sunderland, Dave Thompson

Musical Numbers

Act I

Prologue Company
No Place like London

Todd & Anthony
Worst Pies in London

Mrs Lovett
Poor Thing Mrs Lovett
My Friends Todd & Mrs Lovett
Second Ballad of Sweeney Todd Company
Green Finch and Linnet Bird Johanna
Ah, Miss

Anthony
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir

Tobias & Company
The Contest Pirelli
Third Ballad of Sweeney Todd

Company
Johanna ~ Mea Culpa

Judge Turpin
Wait

Mrs Lovett & Todd
Fourth Ballad of Sweeney Todd Company
Kiss Me

Anthony, Johanna, Judge & Beadle
Ladies in their Sensitivities Beadle
Pretty Women

Judge Turpin & Todd
Epiphany

Todd
A Little Priest Todd & Mrs Lovett

Act II

God, That's Good!

Company
Johanna Quartet

Anthony, Johanna, Todd, Beggar Woman 
By the Sea

Mrs Lovett
Wigmaker Sequence Anthony, Todd & Company
The Letter

Company
Not While I'm Around Tobias & Mrs Lovett
Parlour Songs

Beadle & Mrs Lovett
City On Fire

Company
The Beggar Woman's Lullaby

Beggar Woman
Searching Company
Final Scene Company
Epilogue  Company

See Photos of

See Production Notes of

See NODA Review of

 

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