I honestly didn’t know what to expect or what I was letting myself in for when I ventured to Bath’s Theatre Royal to see their latest production Sweeney Todd: A Victorian Melodrama but it turned out to be a joy to watch.
I had visions of some over-the-top drama involving the untimely and gruesome death of Sweeney Todd’s many Fleet Street barber-shop customers.
Of course, that’s part of the plot – but what I didn’t expect was the very fine operatic performances from the seven-strong cast of Opera della Luna who last appeared at the Theatre Royal six months ago with Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
Their production of Sweeney Todd: A Victorian Melodrama tours to the Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday (July 27) during the company’s 30th Anniversary year. It features an excellent cast of actor-singers accompanied by an orchestra of 11 musicians, recreating the original melodramatic stage production.
Sweeney Todd: Madeline Robinson as Johanna Oakley. (Image: Andy Paradise)
Sweeney Todd gives the audience a taste of Victorian melodrama, restoring the element of sensational storytelling, complete with shipwreck and at least three gruesome murders. Sadly, the original musical scores have not survived but have been replaced with music penned by British operatic composers of the Victorian age.
The tale of Sweeney Todd first appeared on the stage in East London in 1847 at the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, as a melodrama: The String of Pearls, based on a popular “penny dreadful” serialised story. Its success and fame grew steadily and by the 1860s it was being staged all over the country.
Referencing the show’s origins, Opera della Luna brings Sweeney Todd: A Victorian Melodrama to the stage inviting audiences to come and be shocked, terrified, amazed and most important of all: hiss the villain - the notorious Fiend of Fleet Street!
Opera della Luna’s company of actor-singers includes Nick Dwyer as the archetypal baddie Sweeney Todd, Caroline Kennedy as Tobias Ragg, Mrs Oakley and Tom Cutaway, and Lynsey Docherty doubling up as nasty pie shop owner Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Todd’s partner in crime, and as Johanna’s canny maidservant Cecily Maybush.
Madeline Robinson is the heroine Johanna Oakley, the rightful owner of the String of Pearls, while Paul Featherstone literally steals the show as a Uriah Heap-like Reverend Lupin, the stalwart Colonel Jeffries and madhouse owner Jonas Fogg.
Peter van Hulle plays multiple roles as the ‘hero’ Mr Thornhill, Mr Oakley, Jean Parmine, Mr Ruby and Bully Gregson, while Will Kenning is Captain Rathbone, Mr Grant, Ben-the-Beefeater, Jarvis Williams and Sneaking Joe.
Sweeney Todd: Will Kenning as Jarvis Williams. (Image: Nathan Cox)
The audience was at first attentive but quickly picked up the humorous elements of the plot and were soon laughing at the creaking door, while gasping, hissing and booing as the baddie egged us on.
By the final scene, everyone was laughing as the script demanded the actors to double-up actors as their other characters and to run backstage to do a rapid costume change and then return.
Sweeney Todd: A Victorian Melodrama is directed by the company’s artistic director, Jeff Clarke, conducted by Michael Waldron and designed by Elroy Ashmore.
Under Clarke’s direction, the actors use exaggerated body language, facial expressions and speech, alongside heightened dialogue, while encouraging us to cheer, boo and hiss as we react to what is happening on stage.
Opera della Luna deserves a wider UK tour as the show is well worth the ticket price and is a joy to watch.
The production appears at the Theatre Royal Bath to Saturday, July 27. To book tickets call the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk.
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