The recent announcement of Sweeney coming to the Coliseum next year may have taken the wind
out of the sails of this production at the Twickenham Theatre. If anything, though, it should be the other
way round. This show has what ENO are
likely to be missing: tension and intimacy in place of extravagant spectacle; a
quietly brooding Sweeney rather than operatic insanity; and a ticket price that
won’t make your eyes water. The press
images alone speak for themselves…
The Twickenham Theatre is an incredibly small and claustrophobic
space, which is both a blessing and a curse for this production. The raised stage means the characters tower
over the audience mere inches away, threatening and imposing, their heads
practically scraping the ceiling. With
the actors entering from around the audience and interacting with them at every
opportunity – Sweeney’s ‘Epiphany’ especially – this is a production full of
intensity, the glint in each characters eyes and the force of their singing
causing the hairs to raise on the back of your neck.
Equally, there is very little space for elaborate
staging. Sweeney is a show with a variety of set changes, including the pie
shop, the “tonsorial parlor” and that infamous chair. Here, the minimal stage is used to full
effect in Rachel Stone’s set design, navigated well by the cast, but it all
feels a little cramp and demands the audience use their imagination a little
too often. Pies, for instance, are
non-existent. Blood, thankfully, remains
in full effect.
Limitations extend to the suitably grubby and grimy looking cast
too, though they deftly switch between ensemble and leads. Individually, they offer some solid (if safe)
interpretations of well-known characters.
David Bedella’s Sweeney is something of a loveable rogue; a romantic
villain who weeps at the death of his wife.
Though he barks and growls his lines, he seems preoccupied with singing in a musical tone and doesn’t quite get to grips with the malevolent nature of the
character – simply put, his smile is charming but he fails to scare. Sarah Ingram’s busty Mrs Lovett, by contrast, is
wonderful. Her comic timing is
impeccable and singing faultless, yet there’s a psychotic undercurrent to her
performance: in her flirting with Sweeney and her straight-faced, knowing
delivery of ‘Not While I’m Around’.
The supporting cast, too, are excellent. For once, Johanna hasn’t been cast as a
squeaky-voiced girl – Genevieve Kingsford’s rendition of ‘Greenfinch and Linnet
Bird’ is beautifully sung. Shaun
Chambers offers a clear piercing tenor as Pirelli, Chris Coleman is a comically
eccentric Beadle and Josh Tevendale a gentle, boy-faced Anthony. Mikaela Newton, meanwhile, is engagingly naïve
as Tobias with an affecting delivery of ‘Not While I’m Around’.
Director Derek Anderson has brought out much of the black
comedy in the piece and proves (just about) that Sweeney can be performed in smaller spaces. His production might not be particularly daring or novel in its interpretation of the piece, but it’s thoroughly entertaining – you’ll
be grinning with delight more than jumping out of your seat.
4/5
Watch: Sweeney runs
at the Twickenham Theatre until 4th
October.
