Mrs Lovett’s Spies

I popped along to a local school to see their production of the musical Sweeney Todd, not just because it is one of my favourite musicals, but also it is next year’s production by the Hessle Theatre Company and I like to begin my preparations early. Not wanting too much fuss I travelled incognito so was able to observe at the end of the evening that I was not the only one doing a little bit of spying out of the lie of the land. As I left I saw that Martin, John and Chris had been sitting upstairs in the hall taking in the show.

No doubt they too enjoyed the rousing performance by the pupils, and it was good to see so many youngsters taking part. I particularly liked the performance of the youngster who played Toby and her singing of ‘Not While I’m Around’. The set was also an interesting one and the barber’s chair and trap door were used to good effect, as was the clever way the performers clutched the blood to their throats each time Sweeney slashed away at his customers. It was comforting hearing the ‘proper’ beginning to the musical (“Attend the tale …”), unlike that watered down version of the recent film.