University of Virginia Library

Devilish Delight

The action of the play centers
around a barber named Sweeney
Todd, who takes devilish delight in
stealing his customers' valuables
and then 'polishing off" the
unsuspecting victims. While he
frantically tries to protect himself
from exposure, a handsome mariner
who falls prey to Sweeney s wicked
wizardry, the mariner's loyal friend,
and Sweeney's young apprentice do
their utmost to bring the demon
barber to justice.

The play is not particularly well
constructed and if the acting does
not exaggerate the characters as
much as possible at all times, then
we lose interest in the characters
and begin to notice the plot and
structural deficiencies. And while
much of the acting approaches the
pinnacle of exaggeration, only in a
few instances does it ever reach that
zenith.

Peter Webb And Lois Garren In A Scene From The Play

Peter Webb has not mastered the
role of Sweeney Todd, but he does
have some very good moments.
What we have here is a succession
of flashes, spurts of strong, precise
vivid characterization interrupted
by intervals where strained effort is
obvious but total realization isn't.
The suggestion is always there: the
embodiment comes and goes.

On the positive side of the
supporting cast are Lawrence
Alaimo, who could do no better by
his grotesquely penetrating figure of
the keeper of a madhouse; Tony
Gilbert, who has a good time with
the role of a comically lecherous,
heavy-drinking preacher; and Jim
Carrington, who splendidly handles
the bloody but heroic part of the
mariner. George Miller as Sweeney's
apprentice, Lois Garren as a pie
shop owner who is Sweeney s
accomplice, and Paul Ames, Steve
Samusson, and William Hartung in
lesser roles also come across
reasonably well most of the time.