COMMUNITY THEATRE REVIEW: Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street - The Opera House, Buxton.

Following in the successful wake of Paul Kerryson's past productions at Buxton's glorious Opera House, which cast their shows with local amateur talent from the Greater Buxton area, and with only 7 weekend rehearsals prior to the production weekend itself; this was a much darker and more thoughtful production of 'Sweeney Todd' than I have seen for a long while. 

Stephen Sondheim's music is never easy; never comfortable, and his scoring for what is for me, one of his seminal works, and along with 'Sunday In The Park With George', is perhaps the most indelibly and inextricably linked with the show, the story and the characters. Kerryson's macabre minimalist approach to the musical this evening, made it all the more terse. Musical Director, Richard Atkinson and his orchestra sounded at times superb, and yet there were other moments throughout where it sounded like a section was missing from the scoring, or perhaps another section was overpowering the melodic pulse. Make no mistake this is a score I know very well, and sometimes this evening the balance of instrumentation and orchestration did not sound right at all. This was never more obvious than when cast were making it obvious that they were struggling to find their notes; cast that were clearly grand opera trained and highly proficient singers. Strange.

The monochrome set was a composite one of corrugated sheets and scaffolding on two levels. Simple, bare, nondescript. Whilst blood-spattered white fly curtains were flown in and out at various times to allow for scene changes. [the table was never positioned correctly as the fly curtain always snagged].  The costuming again was both minimalist and nondescript; allowing the cast to wear clothes from any historic period giving no historical context to the show whatsoever. The costumes were majority blacks and greys too which, combined with the blackness of the set, made for a very dark and bleak (both actually and metaphorically) production.

James Rockey played a more than vengeful Sweeney Todd, his character bursting from the start with malevolent revenge; he was brooding, and yet direct. It was difficult though to sympathise with him, as he wasn't allowed to show his softer side until he realises he has despatched his ex-wife Lucy at the end. For me at least, this was too little too late to truly feel any sympathy towards Todd. Interestingly he was also directed to be not only aware of his imminent murder by Tobias, but to be quietly accepting of it. I haven't seen that interpretation before.

A too-young Jennifer Hague relished in her role as Mrs. Lovett, and her relationship with Sweeney and her philanthropic demeanor were nicely placed. A very easy-to-watch actress and strong singer who understood her role excellently and was obviously enjoying every gory minute of it! Rhydian Jenkins as Anthony and Lizzy Schroeder as Joanna, gave us the secondary plot of the musical, in which Sweeney Todd's sailor companion falls in love with his daughter (although that is overly simplifying the storyline). Both Jenkins and Schroeder had beautiful operatic voices, and their songs were easily the most melodious and aurally pleasing this evening. However, I did feel that Schroeder's voice was too mature for her to realistically play a 16 year old. 

Cara Coslett as The Beggar Woman and Jamie Formoy as Adolpho Pirelli brought a little light relief to the proceedings with skill. I enjoyed both peformances greatly, despite Coslett being obviously far too young. A rancorous pair of upstanding model citizens in the form of the wheedling Beadle (Tavis Hill), and malign Judge Turpin (Robbie Carnegie) worked nicely together, and Lucas Bailey made much of his part of Tobias. 

A couple of things I picked up on which are perhaps worth a mention. I would have appreciated ale in the jug not air, and pies on the table rather than miming them. It seemed odd that there was a mixture of using props and miming them them throughout. When principals stood in front of the main fly curtain at the front of the stage the lighting was odd, strange double shadows of them were cast onto the sheet. I doubt that was deliberate. I am uncertain as to why Mrs. Lovett was wearing a fur coat indoors for her pie shop scene at the beginning of the second act, and the shooting in the asylum was far more Marx Brothers than Sondheim. 

Act one was, and I say this as a lover of the show and Sondheim, a little long-winded this evening. Perhaps this was because it was opening night; perhaps because some of the music seemed to have been slowed down a tad; but I think mainly it was because there were few dynamic changes in this act. Kerryson had started with a strong single line of accusatory exposition, and although there were a few pits and troughs in the first half, the pace never really picked up and it was only in the second half, when it was much swifter (and much more bloody!), that the pace lifted, the performances lifted, and the dynamics truly worked. There is comedy in this show, but not as much as I have seen in previous versions; Kerryson took the tag-line for the show quite literally, "A Musical Thriller".

What was abundantly clear here however was that everyone on stage this evening was giving their alls to the show, they were fully committed, giving intense and thoroughly rounded performances, and enjoying every ghastly minute of it in the process. A most interesting interpretation of a classic Sondheim musical, which is definitely worth watching, performed by a group of extremely talented amateur and community players from the Buxton area. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 29.4.22