He never forgets and never forgives
England is choking. Its landscape is blackened. This is the rotten core of the decaying nineteenth century.
As the rich sit back, the workers are left to forage for society’s scraps. But in the big city – the unconcealed pinnacle of this desperate misery – one man is plotting. From his fearsome barber’s chair, he’s planning the bloodiest, juiciest, most succulent act of revenge ever seen.
The story of Sweeney Todd’s cut-throat vengeance – and Mrs Lovett’s curiously toothsome pies – has left a curdling, crimson trail for over 150 years. Now this malevolent tale comes lurching back to life in the masterly musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler.
Stuffed to the gizzard with mesmerising music and crow-black comedy, this is anarchic theatre at its thrilling best. And of course, we’re baking it to an Everyman recipe – so sit down, tuck in and enjoy the revolutionary taste of a tale with a blood red heart.
Photograph by Gary Calton
Cast
Kacey Ainsworth
Mrs Lovett
Emma Dears
Beggar Woman
Paul Duckworth
Judge Turpin
Keziah Joseph
Johanna Barker
Dean Nolan
Pirelli
Bryan Parry
Anthony Hope
Shiv Rabheru
Tobias Ragg
Mark Rice-Oxley
Beadle Bamford
Liam Tobin
Sweeney Todd
Daisy Evans
Musician
Samantha Norman
Musician
Alex Smith
Musician
Company
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Originally directed by Harold Prince
Original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Director Nick Bagnall
Set & Costume Designer Michael Vale
Musical Director Tarek Merchant
Lighting Designer Mark Jonathan
Sound Designer Ian Davies
Movement Director Charlotte Broom
Fight Director Kev McCurdy
Assistant Set & Costume Designer Kirsty Barlow
Casting Director Sophie Parrott CDG
Originally produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in association with Dean and Judy Manos
Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited
Reviews
Sweeney Todd
★★★★
“There’s plenty to chew on in a production full of grit and gristle”
“It’s gutsy, immediate and at times unruly”
Sweeney Todd
★★★★
“Raw, sensitive and yet often soaring production stripped to the bone but brilliantly fleshed out”
Sweeney Todd
★★★★
“Raging underdog adds politics to the pies”
“Nick Bagnall’s ingenious revival”
“An outstanding performance by Kacey Ainsworth”
