Double - Performance Workshop (Sweeney Todd) - Blog 18 - 31/03/17

Today we finalised our production of Sweeney Todd by completing the final section which includes the deaths of Beadle, Turpin, Lovett and Todd.

We started with Beadle’s scene, which we felt needed to be quick and merely serve the purpose of the plot. We wanted his death to be insignificant as the only kills that matter to Todd are Pirelli’s as it’s the first kill and he recognises him for Barker, Turpin because he wants revenge and Lovett because she used and lied to him. We had the scene prior his death which was very simple and based in the pie shop and then had Beadle walk up the stairs and the death music play as he walks up. He would exit through the door by the chair and by the music alone it was obvious to the audience that Sweeney had killed him.

Afterwards, Sweeney and Lovett search for Toby, taking them from the pie shop down under the stage into the “bakehouse.” Anthony and Johanna rush up the stairs into Todd’s parlour and he hides her, then leaves to return with a carriage to take the pair away. We then have a blackout where the pie shop floor is then turned into the bake house by removing the table and chairs and dimming the lights. We then have Beggar Woman enter searching for Beadle, who’s body is now on the floor in the bakehouse and Todd appears to find her. She queries with him but he restlessly and quickly murders her to get her out of his way; this creates a great deal of irony considering he murdered his own wife he’s obsessed over for 15 years. During this, Johanna is looking over the edge and watches Todd murder the Beggar Woman; little to Johanna’s knowledge the Beggar Woman is her mother but this is made clear to the audience later which all pieces together in the end.

Todd then rushes downstairs to go meet the Judge who he’s invited as he “knows the whereabouts of Johanna”. As he runs downstairs, I rush up to Todd’s parlour and shout for him and he then runs up the stairs from the bakehouse. We perform the song, which has been very good when we’ve rehearsed in through a sing through. We also changed how I get killed as there wasn’t as much room in the parlour to do our original plan so this led Rob to slitting my throat slowly and pulling a Red cloth out of his hand as he sliced his throat. This looked very effective and worked very well for the “big kill” of the musical.

For Lovett’s and Todd’s death we have it all on the bakehouse floor, in front of the audience. The deaths are simple and stay very true to the story however, instead of Todd being killed by Toby slyly and undetected, Todd senses that Toby is behind him and hands him the razor. This not only signifies that Todd feels like he deserves his death in order to pay for the many sins he’s committed, but he it also takes away a lot of the innocence from the character of Toby, one of the only good characters in the play. Toby the drops the razor and runs away through the aisle in the audience and the lights dim.