Ents: Arts

Review: Sweeney Todd

By Charlotte Rose
Published: 10/03/2009

In a season otherwise filled with the hyperbolic frivolities of the festive period, suTCo brought the sludge-filled streets and filthy passages of the London underworld to life in their superb Christmas production of Sweeney Todd.

The tale of ‘the Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ takes the audience into the rat-filled alleys of 18th century London, where a bitter Todd seeks revenge against the iniquitous ‘justice’ system and the crooked men who oversee it.

The narrator tells of how the young barber lost his wife and daughter when he was sentenced to transportation for a fabricated crime. Returning to his former haunts, Todd joins forces with the inimitable Mrs. Lovett to form a mutually agreeable business arrangement, which satisfies his need for vengeance and her need for pie fillings.

Steven Aspinall excelled as Todd, bringing a strong physical presence to the stage and handling the vocals adeptly throughout the performance.

His portrayal of the barber’s grief and anguish at the loss of his wife and abduction of his daughter made for a sympathetic characterisation: a perfect foil to the self-serving avarice of the figures of authority.

Complementing Aspinall’s surly Todd, Victoria Jolly stole the show with her exuberant performance as Mrs. Lovett. Stunning vocally, she maintained an engaging Cockney drawl throughout, and brought much needed comic relief to the piece. Her overt physicality in her attempts to seduce Todd, with hips swinging and rolling pin in hand, got a great response from the audience.

Whilst there may have been flies on her pies, there were no flies on Mrs. Lovett, a canny businesswoman with few scruples. Despite her sly manipulation, it was hard not to admire her ingenuity, especially when her lament “times is hard, business is bad” seemed particularly resonant.

Also worthy of mention is Sarah Raine as the ‘beggar woman’; the crippled and cackling vagrant who despite her physical deformities was the only voice of truth in the story.

Raine’s fantastic physicalisation and eccentric cackle made her one of the most enjoyable cameo roles, along with Mark Chapman’s Senor Pirelli, who excelled as the phoney barber from Seville.
His façade of the suave and pretentious Spanish mountebank was instantly switched to reveal an ingenuous Irish impersonator (though sadly he was quickly dispatched with).

Successfully choreographed, the chorus was on the whole effective, although they were overshadowed by the lead roles, and failed to hold some of the longer notes. Having said that, the presence of the live orchestra, who did credit to Stephen Sondheim’s sublime score with a slick, skilful performance, heightened the atmospheric tension and created a seamless aural backdrop.

Similarly slick was the all-important barber’s chair, without which no production of Sweeney would be complete. I imagine it must have taken a great deal of perseverance to get such a smooth-looking mechanical operation in place, and can only hope that no real injuries were caused in rehearsing with the macabre death seat, tumbling its unfortunate victims toward the smoking furnace of Mrs Lovett’s gruesome pie house.

The production’s use of scenery, staging and lighting were understated, which contrasted well with the bustling scenes of London life. A cityscape depicting the spire of St Paul’s Cathedral amongst the smoking chimneys of industrial 18th century London made a simple yet effective backdrop, conveying the grim lives of the urban underclasses.

In this harsh world of dirt and defilement, one man’s tragedy could seem negligible amidst a tapestry of poverty and privation, of sorrow and suffering. Yet the richness of the characters and the strength of the performances made for a compelling and consummate production.