Rating: 5 out of 5.
Provides Professional Standards
We hope you’re comfortably in attendance for the ballad of musical theatre’s cut-throat musical, the family black sheep, which revels in the macabre and Victorian-London draping surrounding it. An ambitious and hugely successful production, this isn’t an easy musical – and Blackout Productions have slashed their way to the centre of prowess for Edinburgh’s grassroots theatrical houses with this astonishingly well-stitched and full-blooded rendition of the late-great Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a rare sight on Scottish stages, despite its enormous international successes.
Benjamin Barker, a barber banished to Australia for crimes he didn’t commit to leave his vulnerable and lusted-after wife alone, returns to the squalor and decadence of London as Sweeney Todd: his right arm incomplete without his razor, and nothing but vengeance in his heart. Learning his wife poisoned herself, and that his daughter, Joanna, is now the ward to the man who orchestrated Todd’s downfall, Judge Turpin, Todd takes up residence in his old lodgings above Mrs Lovett’s Pie Shop – his only friends awaiting his return: his silver-handed razors.
An immediate tone is set with Susie Dumbreck’s direction and the team’s show design – even off the stage. The previous music hall is filled with the ghosts of a London past as they wander the theatre space, sitting in vacant seats or watching – not the audience, but into the past. It’s an effectively chilling move, and the lack of interaction from the spectres (portrayed by members of the ensemble and choir Anne Mackie, Gordon Robertson, Keith Hendrie, Mia Odeh and Vicki Robertson) is unnerving, and a refreshing move from the more comedic focus they trope usually has. On stage, the other ensemble members, such as Carole McGirr, Louise Arbuckle, Alex Arnott, and Eden Bright (et al.), provide more lingering sentiments about the city that was abandoned then.
Holly Smith’s design work is precise and practical, focusing on levels of performances and accessibility to ensure the cast of 24 aren’t colliding or in one another’s way – even as the spirits share the stage in music numbers, there’s never a real risk of clutter. Impressive on the Church Hill stage. But even with an entire ensemble on stage for their opening Ballads, Robert Moyes’ presence as Todd never fades. With a strong identity of threat and authority, Moyes switches from the more withdrawn Todd lurking in shadows to the out-and-out showman for powerfully effective solos like ‘Epiphany’, which let Moyes unfurl into the beast within – Blue Parrot Ltd’ lighting a brilliance in atmosphere as it aids in storytelling with sharp crimsons and purgatorial tones.
If Todd is the ‘meat-pie’ filling of the show, then Mrs. Lovett is the tot of gin on the side. The real star and accompanying presence which lets the gristle and flank soften and slip down easier – and what a talent the production has with Jo Heinemeier’s Mrs Lovett: a more grounded, humorous, and nuanced take on the role than the usual less lucid and over-the-top hysterics. Still, maintaining the entertaining flourishes, this Mrs Lovett has a sharp tongue and mind, pulling more strings and understanding the limitations of their performance – nipping and adjusting line deliveries to avoid some of the melody’s harsher points.
Their comedy, too, is exceptional, with a drier delivery than most, more puppet master than accomplice and a sense of identity separate from Todd’s. The chemistry of the pair is solid, as is the tangible hatred James Dickson possesses for Judge Turpin – the principal antagonist in a show stuffed with villains. Together with Colin Cairncross’ sycophantic Beadle, the pair have a ball soaking up the misery and grimness of the script – the pair’s sleaze and self-righteous vice radiating through ‘Ladies and Their Sensitivities’, and Dickson’s ‘Joanna’ really nailing that false inner conflict with an iniquitous charm that makes the performance as revolting as it is engaging.
Musically, Backout Productions’ musical director Richard Lewis has a firmer understanding of the venue’s tricky acoustics better than almost any production team in recent memory – commanding the space as navigating Sondheim’s echoing score, one which emulates the sharp slices through the melody which can switch on the flick of the wrist. With some of the genre’s best numbers and routines, Dumbreck knows how to stage characters for musical direction with plenty of flow and life to balance the darkness; Sean Quinn, Gigi Bacon, and Edan Glennie’s roles as the younger characters Anthony, Todd’s daughter Joanna, and Tobias Ragg as a young urchin taken in by Lovett are all bouncing with the necessary energy and mirth to carry their toles – Glennie’s finale of the show offering one final and glorious swipe of venom to tie it all together.
A gruesome tribute to the Penny Dreadful of the musical repertoire, Blackout Productions’ Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street utilises talented performers and creatives with a concise and ambitious vision to provide a professional standard experience for audiences in Scotland. A show that extends the stage to the audiences and draws them into its storytelling in a show that is as much felt and shared as it is enjoyed and appreciated, its ghoulish coaxing drawing us into an unforgettable experience.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street runs at Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, until October 12thRunning time – Two hours and forty minutes with one intervalPhoto credit – Andrew Morris
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