Barbers Experiment with Blood in London

Sweeney Todd at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London, Nov. 6, 2004

It could've been cheesy. It could've been very, very cheesy. But by some strange magic, it wasn't.

The new West End production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is drastically reduced in size of cast and stage from most previous productions since the play premiered in 1979. There are only nine cast members and one simple set-a cluttered, claustrophobia-inducing backdrop of slatted boards and shelves filled with Victorian bric-a-brac, and a coffin raised on two trestles-in a return to Sondheim's vision of a small cast, a chamber orchestra, and an intimate venue. All the cast members remain onstage at all times, and are constantly changing places or moving around the stage in a controlled movement that, taken as a whole, is almost hypnotic in the same manner as the slow slithering of a snake.

The small cast and stage are not the only revisions to this staging of the musical. Probably the most exceptional thing about this production is the fact that the cast is the orchestra; in fact, they are a troupe of musician-actors from the Watermill Theatre who are specifically trained to do this kind of thing. Except for the single chorus girl, the entire cast plays at least one instrument in addition to singing and acting. One moment, Johanna is singing about finches and linnet birds, and then, so smoothly you almost don't notice the action because you are distracted by other characters stepping up to center stage to begin speaking or singing, she returns upstage and takes up her cello again. The particular instrument(s) that each cast member played served as additional insight into their characters. Mrs. Lovett, here depicted as a brassy backalley strumpet, has trumpet solos that echo her own brazen demeanor. One would not expect Sweeney Todd, "the demon barber of Fleet Street," to be a flautist, but the sweet, piping tones of the instrument add a romantic depth to the character that would not have been as strongly emphasized in a production without it. Johanna and Antony, the two young lovers, are further linked by the fact that both play cello in some especially lovely duets. The frantic, high skirl of the flute played by the beggar woman (Lucy, Sweeney Todd's wife) is a wonderful complement to her insanity. The reduction of the orchestra obviously leads to a thinner sound than in other, more lavish productions, but it is very effective in lending a creepier tone to the whole piece, rather than the dirge-like choruses (with a full orchestra and an organ) on the soundtrack from the original production.

The instrument work of each character during the production I saw was fantastic, with some exceptionally expressive cello-playing by Rebecca Jenkins (Johanna); however, her voice, though unusually clear for a soprano, was a weak point in the production. Other characters had a couple false notes here and there as well, although they were few and far between, and largely they sounded well-rehearsed. I especially enjoyed Karen Mann's (Mrs. Lovett) rendition of "By the Sea," which was more wistful and less cartoonish than the version on the original soundtrack. Despite her outrageous costume--a short black leather skirt and fuzzy red slippers--and exaggerated Cockney accent, that particular song made her seem very much like a real, human character rather than just a caricature. Sweeney Todd himself (Paul Hegarty) showed genuine despair and rage when he found out that he had accidentally killed his wife, and it made me feel very sympathetic toward him, even though I knew that the character was a murderer.

Besides the cast-as-orchestra, the other major experimental aspect to this version of the musical was the way Sweeney "kills" people in his barber shop. Instead of fake blood, or even a more commonly-used symbolic representation of death like pulling red ribbons out of the costume of the newly-deceased (as I have seen used in a number of Shakespeare plays), in this production, Sweeney would draw the razor blade across the neck of the unlucky character, and the lighting would change from orange or yellow to completely red while Beadle Bamford blew an ear-piercing whistle. Meanwhile, one of the other characters would pour a large quantity of red liquid from one bucket to another, while the murdered character donned a blood-stained white lab coat. The whole effect was quite spooky, and the combination of whistle and lighting change startled me every time. The whole set up also led to a great moment towards the middle, when Sweeney is about to kill Judge Turpin; during the song "Pretty Women," there is an extended sequence where Sweeney makes preparations to kill the judge--sharpening his knife, fiddling with it dangerously around the judge's neck--while one of the other characters gets out a bloody lab coat, and the beggar woman (Lucy) slowly sets up the buckets and begins to tip one into the other. However, Sweeney ends up not killing the judge at that point, and the whole sequence is really just a big fake-out that ended up being quite funny, in a black comedy sort of way. It also really upped the tension--I was mentally steeling myself for that whistle--without providing any kind of release, which carried through until the end of the show.

Though it wasn't particularly avant garde or experimental, I was especially impressed with the lighting design in this production. The imperfectly-joined wooden slats that made up the backdrop and floor allowed orange light (a particular shade that reminded me of late afternoon on a hot and smoggy day) to bleed through, and with yellow-tinged lighting from the front, the effect was suitably devilish without being distracting. I think it was that mood-setting light, along with the change to red when there was a murder, that really made this production work.

However despite generally liking the way the show was designed and put on, one directorial choice that I did not agree with was that the characters almost never looked at each other. Instead, they sang their songs and spoke their lines to the audience, even when they were speaking directly to another character. This was especially bothersome in "Kiss Me," the duet which Johanna and Antony sing to each other, where they were sitting beside each other, their hands clasped--and staring out at the audience. Johanna especially would constantly stare at a point just above the audience's heads, giving her a vacant expression that worked well after she went sort of mad towards the end, but was disconcerting throughout the first two-thirds of the production.

I hadn't heard much about Sweeney Todd besides "it's a weird musical about murderous barbers" before seeing this production, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was constantly amused by the juxtaposition of a musical about a murderous barber and his cannibalistic lover, and along with the fabulous music, that was enough to keep me entertained for the two hours it lasted. However, if it was supposed to scare me, I guess I'd have to say it failed. Despite the eeeeevil lighting and the characters grinning nastily when they sing about how Sweeney Todd could happen to me, I can't say that I was convinced of the truth of that assertion. It was creepy and spooky, but never really did I think about implications for my own personal life and feel frightened. However, despite protestations to the contrary by certain academics, I don't really think that the show needs to scare its audience; there are multilayered characters and witty lyrics, the situation contains both pathos and humor at the same time, and the music is wonderful in the way phrases keep popping into your head weeks later. (Although perhaps that bit of "A Little Priest" running through my head while I was trying to write my Shakespeare paper a couple weeks ago was a little annoying...) Add some spiffy lighting and staging to the mix, and I'd call it a success.


Copyright 2004, Rebecca E. Helton

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