You’ll be grateful your hairdresser only asks about your holiday after experiencing the twisted tale of Sweeney Todd, now playing at Norwich Theatre Playhouse.
Stephen Sondheim’s black operetta is a blood-soaked tale of revenge and surprisingly tasty pies, as wronged barber Todd returns to London after 15 years of exile and teams up with low on customers and even lower on morals pie shop owner Mrs Lovett.
Together, they sate his lust for fatally close shaves and dispose of the evidence by feeding her customer’s hunger for cheap and meaty pastries.
Lewis Aves is a brooding hunk as Todd, seemingly growing in height and volume with each murderous slash of his razor, full of passion and barrelling tone. Rebecca Jillings truly excels as the unhinged Mrs Lovett; both her vocal performance and darkly comic timing are perfectly pitched.
Elle Overvoorde has relatively little time on stage in the superficially minor role of beggar woman, but captivates whenever she appears with a deliciously manic presence that ensures a consistently angsty atmosphere throughout the show. Christopher Davidson’s cameo as Pirelli is also a gem.
Leo Oakley (as Beadle) and Matthew Vanston (Judge Turpin) are pleasingly corrupt, but bring out their character’s depths with unexpected musical hall falsetto and self-flagellation respectively (I did say it was dark and twisted).
Nic Gordon (as Anthony Hope), Eloise Cubbin (Johanna) and Gabriel Jones (Tobias Ragg) round off the primary cast, bring mostly lighter tone to help emphasise the shadows. Gordon and Cubbin play off each nicely as star-crossed lovers, and Ragg brings out the lovable in his simple street urchin.
If you can get over the gruesome setup, this is a darkly funny and very entertaining show with some cracking performance at its heart. Threshold Theatre Company has a well-deserved local following, and this is another incredibly successful show.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street continues at Norwich Theatre Playhouse until Saturday 18 May. Returns only.
