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Club Director's Notes

Sweeney Todd the Barber Semi Detached An Evening of Stoppard The Arsonists Man of the Moment Oh! What a Lovely War Only Free Men

• Sweeney Todd the Barber

• 13th Sep - 20th Sep
• Written by: Brian J Burton
• Directed by: Matt Haynes
• Performance Times: Sat 19:45, Mon 19:45, Tue 19:45, Wed 19:45, Thu 19:45, Fri 19:45, Sat 14:45, Sat 19:45

Directors Notes

This is a gritty and dark version of the classic tale adapted from George Dibdin Pitt’s Victorian original. All the Melodrama favorites are present; Hero, Heroine, Aged Parents, Loveable Rogue and of course, Villain. Period costumes and furniture feature in abundance and along with some creative lighting, this production provides a haunting gothic ambience to enhance this tale of bloody murder and revenge.

I remember this ‘school’ play with deep affection, at the age of twelve I played the lecherous ‘Dr Lupin’ in a production at Lewes Priory in 1984, as my first ever stage role. It has been a real joy to revive this play after so long, and to relive some of its finer moments with this mainly new cast to LTC. All of the dramatis personae come from a variety of local secondary schools, and have been bought together through an under 18’s local youth theatre company called ‘Sentre Stage’, and the Lewes Theatre Club youth group. For all of them, this is a completely new genre and has involved a great deal of training and preparation, both in stagecraft and musicality. We are all grateful for this unusual opportunity for an entirely young adult cast to be invited to perform on the Lewes Stage.

Don’t be fooled by any stereotype preconceptions of the play you might expect – although dripping with violent encounters and over the top characters, this version contains genuine humour and hilarious satire, as well as songs and music which will help to entertain and balance this gutsy story.

Within this text, the rich language of the Victorian age presents a challenge of elocution, and reminds us of a bygone era when prosperity and poverty were at their extremes.

The twelve songs have been arranged by a local Lewes composer and all will remind you of lullabies and rhymes sung by another generation to our parents, as they played parlor games and made ready for dinner or sleep.

Performing Arts GCSE students from Heathfield Community College will also be operating sound and lights for this show, further highlighting the Theatres commitment to involving and including young people in its productions, and helping to train them so that future generations can continue to enjoy the LTC productions of the future.

Sweeney Todd proudly opens the 2008/9 season with a live musical melodrama, jam packed with all the elements you might imagine from a play of this era. Blood, gore, fights, frights, romance, laughter, song and of course triumph over evil. Although as Sweeney says, ‘There’s no-one as evil as me!’ Come and see for yourself.