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TheatreWorksS I L I C O N V A L L E Y

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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Table of Contents

For Teachers and Students• For Teachers: Using this Study Guide 4• For Students: The Role of the Audience 5

Exploring the Play • Sweeney Todd Plot Summary 6–8• Plot Summary: Climbing the Plot Mountain 9

Worksheet: Sweeney Todd Plot Diagram 10• Sweeney Todd’s Creators 11• The Origins of Sweeney Todd 12• Characters and What They Say 13• Point of View 14• Writing Lyrics for a Musical 15• Design a Poster 16• Setting 17–18• Director’s Notes 19

Resources• Glossary 20• Additional Resources, Sources, and Fun Facts 21• STUDENT/Student Matinee Evaluation• TEACHER/Student Matinee Evaluation

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SET MODEL BY ANDREA BECHERT

How to use this Study Guide

This guide is arranged in worksheets. Each worksheet or reading may be used independently or in conjunction

with others to serve your educational goals. Together, the worksheets prepare students for the workshops, as

well as seeing the student matinee of Sweeney Todd produced by TheatreWorks, and for discussing the performance

afterwards.

Throughout the guide you will see several symbols:

Means “Photocopy Me!” Pages with this symbol are meant to be photocopied and handed directly to students.

Means “English Language Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered toCalifornia State English Language Arts standards.

Means “Theatre Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Theatre Arts standards.

Means “Social Studies.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Social Studies standards.

For Teachers

Student matinee performances of Sweeney Todd will be held on October 23 & 30, 2014 at 11:00 am, at the Mountain

View Center for Performing Arts. The production is approximately two hours and a half hours, including an intermission.

The performance will be followed by a discussion with actors from the show.

Student audiences are often the most rewarding and demanding audiences that an acting ensemble can face. Since we

hope every show at TheatreWorks will be a positive experience for both audience and cast, we ask you to familiarize

your students with the theatre etiquette described on the following page.

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All the work that goes into a production would mean nothing if there wasn’t an audience for whom to perform. As the

audience, you are also a part of the production, helping the actors onstage tell the story.

When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the actors and the audience to put aside

concerns and conversation and settle into the world of the play.

The performers expect the audience’s full attention and focus. Performance is a time to think inwardly, not a time

to share your thoughts aloud. Talking to neighbors (even in whispers) carries easily to others in the audience and to the

actors on stage. It is disruptive and distracting.

Food is not allowed in the theatre. Soda, candy, and other snacks are noisy and therefore distracting. Please keep

these items on the bus or throw them away before you enter the audience area. Backpacks are also not allowed in the

theatre.

Walking through the aisles during the performance is extremely disruptive. Actors occasionally use aisles and stairways

as exits and entrances. The actors will notice any movement in the performance space. Please use the restroom and

take care of all other concerns outside before the show.

Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off before the performance begins. Do not text during

the performance, as it is distracting to the audience members around you.

What to bring with you:

Introspection

Curiosity

Questions

Respect

An open mind

What to leave behind:

Judgments

Cell phones, etc.

Backpacks

Food

Attitude

The Role of the Audience

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A delicious prologue sets the scene for Sweeney Todd:

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Two men dig a

grave six feet deep on the stage until a factory whistle

blows. The men lower a body haphazardly into the

grave. A woman pours black ashes onto the body from

a tin can labeled “flour.” They sing about Sweeney

Todd, who eventually rises out of the grave introducing

the play:

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd

His skin was pale and his eye was odd.

He shaved the faces of gentlemen

Who never thereafter were heard of again.

(“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”)

In the first scene of the musical, two men say goodbye

after returning from a long sea voyage. One is Anthony

Hope, a young and optimistic first mate, and the other

is a dour man in his forties named Sweeney Todd. We

learn that Anthony saved Sweeney from drowning on

the high seas, and Sweeney is eternally grateful. As they

say goodbye, Anthony expresses his enthusiasm for

London, and Sweeney warns him that the city is full of

greed and corruption (“No Place Like London”).

Sweeney tells him the tale of a “foolish barber and his

wife,” who were ruined by “a pious vulture of the law”

(“The Barber and His Wife”). Before he can go into

more detail, Sweeney rushes away.

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Sweeney Todd Plot Summary

Later on Sweeney walks by a pie shop that sits below an

empty apartment. Mrs. Lovett runs the pie shop, and

proclaims her pies to be the worst pies in London

(“Worst Pies in London”). She begs Sweeney to stay

awhile and try her awful pies, and tells him how slow her

business has been. She tells him about the couple who

used to live in the apartment above, a barber and his

beautiful wife. We learn that a local judge fell in love

with the barber’s wife and falsely convicted the barber

of a crime he did not commit. When the barber was

sent away to Australia to serve a lifetime jail sentence,

the judge lured the desperate wife (and mother to a

young daughter) to his house and raped her. The wife

eventually poisoned herself with arsenic, but her daughter

Johanna was adopted by the judge (“Poor Thing”).

Seeing that Sweeney Todd is deeply affected by the

story, Mrs. Lovett accuses him of being Benjamin

Barker, the very same barber of her story. Sweeney

Todd is indeed Benjamin Barker, and he tells her he has

returned to seek revenge on the judge, Judge Turpin,

and on the Beadle who helped the judge steal his wife,

Lucy. Mrs. Lovett then gives Sweeney his set of barber

knives that she’s been keeping safe all these years (“My

Friends” and “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd Reprise”).

Next we meet the beautiful, yellow-haired Johanna who

leans out of a window at Judge Turpin’s mansion and

watches a bird-seller pedal her wares on the street

Continues on the next page

DAVID STU

DWELL / PHOTO

KEVIN BERNE

below. She sings to his caged birds, asking them why

they sing so sweetly when they cannot fly freely (“Green

Finch and Linnet Bird”). Anthony Hope wanders by and

catches sight of Johanna, falling in love with her instantly

(“Ah, Miss”). He buys her a bird from the bird-seller,

and just as he is about to give it to her, Judge Turpin

and the Beadle discover the two and threaten Anthony

away. The Beadle takes the bird from Anthony and

wrings its small neck, forbidding Anthony from ever

visiting again. Johanna runs away in fear from Judge

Turpin, and Anthony swears to steal her away from the

evil judge (“Johanna”).

In the next scene, Italian pedlar Adolfo Pirelli proclaims

that he has a cure for baldness, and that he gives the

best shave in London (“Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir”). His

assistant is a young, simple-minded boy named Tobias

Ragg who serves Pirelli dutifully. When Sweeney Todd

and Mrs. Lovett arrive, Sweeney challenges Pirelli to a

competition to determine who gives the best shave in

London. Beadle Bamford (Judge Turpin’s right-hand

man) presides over the competition and determines

Sweeney the winner (“The Contest”). Sweeney, knowing

exactly who the Beadle is and how he helped the judge

steal his wife, invites him to his shop for a free shave

anytime that week. The Beadle gladly accepts, and

Sweeney is delighted (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd

Reprise”).

Sweeney obsesses over when the Beadle will pay a visit,

hoping to kill him as soon as possible, while Mrs. Lovett

reassures him that all will go as planned (“Wait”). Pirelli

and Tobias pay a visit to the barbershop. As Mrs. Lovett

feeds Tobias pie in the shop below, Pirelli tries to

blackmail Todd, revealing that he knows that Sweeney

Todd is really Benjamin Barker who has escaped from

his life-long prison sentence in Australia. Pirelli is actually

Daniel O’Higgins, an Irishman who used to be Benjamin

Barker’s assistant. Sweeney strangles and slits Pirelli’s

throat, stuffing him in a trunk and telling Tobias that his

master fled the shop in a hurry (“Pirelli’s Death” and

“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd Reprise”).

Elsewhere, the Judge tells Beadle Bamford of his

intentions to marry his ward Johanna the following

Monday. Meanwhile, Johanna and Anthony meet in her

room, and she is a wreck, overwrought with horror at

the thought of marrying her adopted father. They make

a plan to flee together that night (“Kiss Me”). The

Beadle counsels Judge Turpin to get a haircut and a

nice shave from the barber Sweeney Todd. He suggests

that if Judge Turpin put more effort into his appearance,

he might win Johanna’s affections (“Ladies in Their

Sensitivities”). The judge thinks this is a splendid idea.

The Judge immediately visits Sweeney Todd, who has

just that day killed Pirelli. Turpin has no idea that Todd

is really Benjamin Barker, the man who he sent to

Australia for life on trumped-up charges. Todd is

beyond delighted to see his enemy, and they make

conversation about women, in particular the judge’s

intention to marry Johanna (“Pretty Women”). Just as

he readies himself to slit an oblivious Judge Turpin’s

throat, Anthony Hope bursts into the shop telling Todd

that he plans to elope with Johanna that very night. The

judge, recognizing Anthony instantly, leaves in a fury,

scolding Todd for keeping company with such ruffians.

Devastated at having missed his chance to murder

Turpin, Todd proclaims revenge on all of humanity

(“Epiphany”). Mrs. Lovett consoles him, suggesting that

they begin to bake the dead bodies of Sweeney Todd’s

revenge killings into pies. Meat is scarce, and this idea

could benefit both Todd and Lovett alike (“A Little Priest”).

Act II begins with great cheer as we watch customers

swarm Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop, where she’s created an

outdoor eating garden. People love the new taste of

her pies (“God, That’s Good!”). Little do they know that

the pies contain the remains of human beings whom

Sweeney Todd has killed. Tobias Ragg now works for

Mrs. Lovett as a server and assistant. Though Mrs.

Lovett is delighted by her success, Sweeney Todd still

obsesses over how to find his daughter and how to kill

Judge Turpin. Meanwhile, Anthony wanders London

searching for Johanna, who no longer lives at Judge

Turpin’s mansion. We learn that she is in Fogg’s Asylum,

a madhouse for lunatics. Judge Turpin has sent her

there in order to imprison her and keep her from

Anthony (“Johanna—Quartet”).

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Continues on the next page

Plot Summary, continued

A beggar woman begins to suspect something foul and

immoral is going on at Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop. We see

the big ovens, the chute, and the meat grinder in the

basement of the shop, and we see the thick black

smoke that emanates from the chimney. The beggar

woman tries to warn passers-by of the dark things

inside the shop (City on Fire).

Mrs. Lovett hopes to convince Todd that they should

marry and travel to the seaside. Anthony arrives and

tells Todd that Johanna is locked up in Fogg’s Asylum,

and the two devise a plan to have Anthony pose as a

wigmaker and pretend to buy hair from the asylum’s

inmates (“Wigmaker Sequence”). Todd, however,

secretly sends a letter to the Judge informing him of

Anthony’s plot to break Johanna free from the asylum,

hoping to win the judge’s trust and lure him to the

barbershop once more (“The Letter”).

Tobias, simple-minded and young though he is, tells

Mrs. Lovett that he thinks Todd is up to no good. He

offers to protect her from the barber. Mrs. Lovett

soothes and tries to dismiss his worries (“Not While I’m

Around”). When Tobias notices that Mrs. Lovett has

Pirelli’s coin purse, he begins to suspect even more that

something is not right. Mrs. Lovett leads him to the

basement, showing him the ovens and the meat grinder,

and locks him down there. Upstairs, she discovers Beadle

Bamford waiting for her, hoping to investigate the foul

smell from the chimney and the dark dealings that

passers-by suspect. She entertains him as they wait for

Todd, and when Todd arrives, the Beadle is offered a

free shave and his throat is slit. Todd and Mrs. Lovett go

to the basement to kill Tobias.

At the asylum, Mr. Fogg tries to stop Anthony from

taking Johanna. When Anthony cannot shoot Mr. Fogg,

Johanna does. They flee as all of the lunatics flood the

streets. While Todd and Mrs. Lovett search for Tobias in

the bakehouse basement, Anthony arrives with Johanna

(disguised as a sailor). Johanna hides in the trunk to

wait for Anthony to find them a coach, and the beggar

woman bursts into the barbershop, screaming for the

Beadle. Todd returns to find the beggar woman, and,

knowing Judge Turpin is due to arrive, he promptly slits

her throat and sends her down the chute (“Beggar

Woman’s Lullaby”). He then cheerfully ushers Judge

Turpin in, seats him in the barber chair, and reveals his

true identity before slitting his throat and sending him

down the chute (“The Judge’s Return”). As Todd is

about to return to the basement, he sees Johanna climb

out of the trunk, and because she is disguised as a

sailor, he doesn’t recognize her. He nearly slits her

throat, but then hears Mrs. Lovett scream below and

goes to help her. Johanna flees, and Mrs. Lovett struggles

to finish killing the half-dead Judge. After she does, she

pulls the beggar woman’s body toward the oven as

Todd arrives. He suddenly recognizes the beggar

woman to be Lucy, his wife, whom Mrs. Lovett said had

committed suicide many years before. He pretends to

forgive Mrs. Lovett, waltzes with her, and then throws

her into the fiery oven. Tobias, now completely insane,

emerges from the shadows of the basement and slits

Sweeney Todd’s throat as Todd cradles his dead wife.

Johanna, Anthony, and the police arrive to find a

bloody and grim scene.

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Plot Summary, continued

A lot happens in Sweeney Todd. Just when you think Sweeney is about to get his revenge on Judge Turpin in the

barber chair the first time, Anthony arrives and the Judge flees. What follows is a series of unexpected twists and

turns. Read the plot summary and then, using the Plot Mountain Diagram on the next page, identify the events that

correspond with the Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.

Three Big Questions

1. Why do you think the creators decided to include a Prologue that tells us the story of the Demon Barber of

Fleet Street before the story begins? What do you think is the purpose of this prologue? What would the

story be like if the prologue were not included?

2. What do you think would have happened if Sweeney Todd had been able to kill Judge Turpin in the barber

chair the first time? Do you think he would have been satisfied with his revenge, or do you think he would

have continued to kill?

3. Is Sweeney Todd a villain or a hero? Are we meant to support him or to disapprove of his actions?

Plot Summary: Climbing the Plot Mountain

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Exp

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Protagonist:

Antag

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Setting—Time:

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Internal Conflict:

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Sweeney Todd’s CreatorsComposer and Lyricist Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930 in New York City. He is considered to be one of the mostinfluential voices in modern American musical theater.Sondheim has won the Tony Award seven times and hasbeen nominated another six times. At a young ageSondheim was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein andRichard Rogers, two giants of American musical theaterresponsible for hits like Oklahoma! and Carousel. Afterworking as a lyricist on the musicals Gypsy and WestSide Story in the 1950s, Sondheim’s fame grew. Notably, he had the double talent of being able to compose music AND write lyrics.

Sondheim’s work was not always as popular as it istoday. In fact critics were quite tough on him, becausehis musicals were very different from the more upbeat,cheerful trends in musical theater. In a 2013 piece aboutSondheim in New York Magazine, Frank Rich wrote,“Steve’s response to box-office failure was not to panderto a Broadway audience but to be more adventurouswith each successive work.”

Sondheim chose to compose music and write lyrics thatdefied conventional American musical theater. Hehelped redefine the possibilities for what musical theatercan be. In a New York Times interview with Frank Rich,Sondheim said,

The kind of writing that I do in the musical theater, forwhich I’m both praised and condemned, has to do withits individuality, I think. It has to do with the fact that it’snot like others. I started to become aware of it withCompany, which is where I first got to start my ownvoice loud and clear. And the anger and condemnationand snottiness and sneering that I got with Companyquite startled me. Because I’d been dismissed before,which is not the same thing […] because it’s so muchbetter to be disliked than ignored.”

Critics and audiences didn’t always like Sondheim’s unconventional style, but Sondheim found a way to staytrue to his artistic vision. “I’ve never been popular,” he’ssaid, even as his musicals have been produced and continueto be produced again and again, all over the world. In a popular interview with The Paris Review, Sondheimreveals an additional inspiration for creating Sweeney Todd:

When I was fifteen years old I saw a movie called Hangover Square, another epiphany in my life. It was amoody, romantic, gothic thriller […] about a composerin London in 1900 who was ahead of his time. Andwhenever he heard a high note he went crazy and ranaround murdering people. It had an absolutely brilliantscore by Bernard Herrmann, centered around a one-movement piano concerto. I wanted to pay homage tohim with this show, because I had realized that in orderto scare people, which is what Sweeney Todd is about,the only way you can do it, considering that the horrorsout on the street are so much greater than anythingyou can do on stage, is to keep music going all thetime. […] So Sweeney Todd not only has a lot ofsinging, it has a lot of underscoring. It’s infused withmusic to keep the audience in a state of tension, tomake them forget they’re in a theater, and to preventthem from separating themselves from the action.”

Librettist Hugh Wheeler

The book (or script) of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was written by Hugh Wheeler, anEnglish writer, poet, and librettist who spent most of hislife in America and who became an American citizen in1942. Born in 1912 in Hampstead, England, Wheelerwrote many plays, stories, and approximately 30 booksduring his life. He won the Tony Award for Best Book ofa Musical three times: in 1973 for A Little Night Music(music and lyrics by Sondheim), in 1974 for Candide(lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Sondheim), and in 1979for Sweeney Todd (music and lyrics by Sondheim).

The Origins of Sweeney Todd

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Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler based Sweeney Todd on a play by British playwright Christopher Bond, published in1973. His play premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. Bond updated a very popular urban legend that hadbeen circulating for over 150 years. The story of Sweeney Todd began as a legend about a barber and a pie shop ownerwho robbed the wealthy. Christopher Bond made Todd a more sympathetic character by giving him a motivation to kill—a judge who had wrongfully accused him of a crime in order to steal his wife. Over the years Sweeney Todd has been thesubject of short stories, books, plays, operas, ballets, silent films, musicals, and films. Early versions of the legend are foundin stories like “Martin Chuzzlewit” by Charles Dickens or “The String of Pearls: A Romance,” a penny dreadful (a serializedBritish publication that cost a penny) by Thomas Pecket Prest and James Malcolm Rymer. The motivation for Todd’s immoralactions have changed from version to version, but the core elements of the story—the corruption of Victorian London andthe division between social classes—remain the same.

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Characters and What They Say

Sweeney Todd/Benjamin BarkerThere’s a hole in the worldLike a great black pitAnd the vermin of the worldInhabit itAnd its morals aren’t worth What a pig could spitAnd it goes by the name of London

Mrs. LovettThese are probably the worst pies in London.I know why nobody cares to take them—I should know,I make them.But good? No,The worst pies in London—Even that’s polite.

Anthony HopeI feel you,Johanna,And one day,I’ll steal you.Till I’m with you then,I’m with you there,Sweetly buried in your yellow hair…

Johanna BarkerGreen finch and linnet bird,Nightingale, blackbird,How is it you sing?How can you jubilate,Sitting in cages,Never taking wing?

Sweeney Todd is full of rich and vivid characters. Below is a list of the major characters in the musical and a few lyricsthat they sing. For each character, write three to five sentences describing him or her as though you were writing to afriend who has never seen Sweeney Todd, or as though you were pitching the musical to a producer who doesn’t knowthe story. How would you describe the words they use when they sing, the images each character conjures up?

Judge TurpinWhat we do forpretty women!Blowing out their candlesOr combing out their hair—Then they leave—Even when they leave youAnd vanish, they somehowCan still remainThere with you there…

Tobias RaggDemons are prowlingEverywhereNowadays.I’ll send ‘em howling.I don’t care—I got ways.No one’s gonna hurt you,No one’s gonna dare...

Beadle Bamford (The Beadle)Excuse me, my lord.May I request, my lord,Permission, my lord, to speak?Forgive me if I suggest, my lord,You’re looking less than your best, my lord,There’s powder upon your vest, my lord,And stubble upon your cheek.And ladies, my lord, are weak.

Beggar WomanThere! There!Somebody, somebody look up there!Didn’t I tell you? Smell that air!City on fire!Quick, sir! Run and tell!Warn ‘em all of the witch’s spell!

Point of View

In 3-5 sentences, tell the story of Sweeney Todd from the perspective of the following characters:

Johanna: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mrs. Lovett: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anthony Hope: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Judge Turpin: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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“One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that you’re not awarethere was a writer there, and it sounds natural. Well, that means things like inflection, the elongation of syllables. NowI’m talking about a certain kind of songwriting. You know, opera librettists and opera composers will take a word and doa whole melisma on it, because it’s not about the language. It’s about the voice and the music. But if you’re dealing witha musical in which you’re trying to tell a story that is like a play, and particularly if you’re trying to tell a contemporaryone, or something from the last 50 years, it’s got to sound like a speech. And in order not to sound so songlike that youlose the scene.”

—Stephen Sondheim

Writing Lyrics for a Musical

The Sondheim Musical Toolkit

Counterpoint: When two or more melodies are sung or played together at the same time. They weave in and out of each other, maintaining their individual structures, but blend into harmonies at key moments.

Harmonies : When notes are blended together in apleasing way, often to create a chord

Leitmotif: Merriam Webster defines a “leitmotif” as “an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation especially in a Wagnerian music drama.” We hear a leitmotif in “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” a song that is reprised again and again throughout themusical.

The Dies Irae: A medieval religious chant originating asearly as the 1200s that spoke of the Day of Judgment.We hear remnants of this music tradition in “The Balladof Sweeney Todd” when the chorus sings, “Swing yourrazor wide, Sweeney!/ Hold it to the skies!”

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In the space below, design a poster for the musical Sweeney Todd. What images would you include? Which characters

would you show? What would you want audiences to know about the musical before they saw the show? Would you

include any lyrics or quotes on the poster?

Design a Poster

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SettingThe original production of Sweeney Todd was set in the

mid–1800s, when England was experiencing the Industrial

Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a historical

period starting in the 1700s when inventions like the

steam engine changed the way countries made money

and conducted business. Farming-driven economies

in rural areas were steadily replaced by industry and

technology in cities. Inventions like the steam engine,

light bulbs, the telegraph, and more caused businesses

and factories to boom in cities like London. Goods could

be manufactured and transported at a rate never seen before.

Unforunately, during this time poverty was rampant, and

the strict class system divided England into the wealthy

upper classes, the working classes, and the poor.

However, Director Robert Kelley and TheatreWorks

designers have decided to try something different.

They’ve set this production of Sweeney Todd in 1940s

London, during the Blitz of World War II.

Britain fought in World War II as part of the Allied

Forces from 1939 to 1945. In the summer of 1940, the

Germans invaded France and prepared to subdue

Britain for good by destroying airfields and all aspects

of the Royal Air Force (RAF). By accident, German

bombers intending to bomb Royal Air Force facilities

near London lost track of where they were and dropped

bombs on central London on August 24th. Churchill, the

Prime Minister of England, then ordered an air attack

on Berlin the next day. This took Germany by surprise,

as Berlin had never been bombed before. Hitler delivered

an enraged speech, saying, “...When the British Air

Force drops two or three or four thousand kilograms of

bombs, then we will in one night drop 150-, 230-, 300-

or 400,000 kilograms. When they declare that they will

increase their attacks on our cities, then we will raze

their cities to the ground. We will stop the handiwork of

those night air pirates, so help us God!”

On September 7th, Hitler ordered German air strikes all

over London. From 4pm until 4am until the next morning,

German bombers dropped thousands of bombs, destroying

hundreds of buildings and killing approximately 448

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people died in one night. London was bombed every

day for the next two months, and continued to be

bombed until May of 1941, eight months later. At that

point, Hitler ordered his bomber planes back to Germany

to prepare for the invasion of Russia. This violent and

traumatic period in Britain’s history is known as The

Blitz, short for Blitzkrieg, the German word for “light-

ning war.” During this time 40,000 British citizens died

and thousands more were injured, and over a million

homes were destroyed.

During the War, Britain imported 60% of its food from

other countries. Germany, in the hopes of demoralizing

Britain, used its U-Boats to attack ships carrying food

products to England. As a result, food supplies were

low, and Britain had to issue food rations to its citizens.

Things like sugar, eggs, meat, and coffee were scarce.

Additionally, during the Blitz, Londoners often took

shelter in Underground Tube stations or below factories

where makeshift beds and toilets were assembled. Life

was really difficult and Londoners lived in constant fear.

Though they are two distinct periods in Britain’s history,

the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s and the Blitz of

the 1940s impacted London’s citizens in similar ways.

Poverty, hunger, and a lack of resources shook the city

during both moments of history.

Continues on the next page

Firefighters tackle a blaze after a London air raid.

Setting, continuedBy the NumbersDuring the eight-month Blitz of 1940-1941 Britain:

• 18,000 tons of explosives were dropped on

London.

• 18,629 men, 16,201 women, 5,028 children, and over

600 unknown British people died during these eight

months.

• The Blitz left 375,000 Brits homeless.

• Approximately one third of London was destroyed.

• When Patemoster Row (a center of the British

publishing industry) was destroyed, five million

books were also destroyed.

• Despite the damage to homes, Westminster Abbey,

the Tower of London, St. Thomas’s Hospital,

Buckingham Palace, the House of Commons,

Lambeth Palace, churches, schools, museums, and

more, several relics from ancient Roman times were

discovered beneath the rubble. For example, a

Roman wall under Cripplegate was found in the

aftermath.

18

Fleet StreetFleet Street is an actual street in the center of London,

right next to the Thames River. It is named after the

Fleet River, one of London’s largest underground rivers

that was once used to transport goods around England.

As a result, Fleet Street served as a port or merchant

harbor for a much of London’s history. We know the

Thames to be the big central river of London, but centuries

ago there were approximately 21 smaller rivers that fed

into the Thames and that shaped the geography of this

major city. These smaller rivers became canals and

sewer systems for London, and were eventually paved

over or turned into storm drains in order to create more

room for London’s booming population. The Fleet River

was one of the smelliest and most disgusting of these

canals. In 1710, the famous writer Jonathan Swift

described the Fleet as being full of “the sweepings

from butchers’ stalls, dung, guts and blood.” In his satirical

poem, “The Dunciad,” famous poet Alexander Pope

wrote about the kingdom of England, “to where Fleet

Ditch, with disemboguing streams,/ Rolls the large tribute

of dead dogs to the Thames.” What a fitting setting for

Sweeney Todd.

In the early days of London (the 1200s, 1300s), Fleet

Street connected the old city of London to Westminster,

its political center. Many famous literary figures like

John Milton and John Dryden either lived on Fleet

Street or spent lots of time in pubs there. Fleet Street

also served as the home to many London newspapers

for centuries until they moved elsewhere in the 1980s.

Director’s Notes by Robert KelleyAstonishing experiences

bear repeating. As we

celebrate TheatreWorks’ 45th

Anniversary, the astonishing

Sweeney Todd joins a small

list of plays and musicals that

we have found worthy of a

second production. Not

surprising, the list includes

several masterworks by

Shakespeare and a wealth of

Sondheim classics, from

A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures to Into the

Woods. Since we first produced the then-controversial

Sweeney Todd in 1992, it has become an international

phenomenon, a highlight at opera companies around

the world, a recurring Broadway regular, and a

blockbuster film. With all that attention elsewhere,

why Sweeney redux? Why now?

Among its intertwined themes, Sweeney Todd is

about humanity’s fascination with evil and its corollary,

violence. Some part of us thrives on conflict; some

genetic trait encourages us to force our point of view

(or culture, or religion) upon another. When that instinct

leads to violence it becomes the fodder of our nightly

news: a punch in an elevator, a gunshot in the back, a

village destroyed, a country overrun. We are at once

repelled and transfixed. And that’s how I see Sweeney

Todd, played out against a background of violence, a

background of war. Our first production was in 1992,

prompted by the bombings of Baghdad displayed

nightly on national TV. It was set in London, 1916, the

year the first bomb was ever dropped from an airplane

on a city.

That was then. Now, a sea of wars engulfs the world

again. The advent of evil seems ever greater, our

involvement ever deeper, whether our boots are on the

ground or under a desk as we guide drones to distant

human targets. I’ve long wondered how my parents felt

about World War II, about a single culture seeking to

dominate all, about the decision to use the atomic

bomb, about the appalling premise of “ethnic cleansing.”

I wish I’d asked, for what seemed beyond belief then

seems commonplace today, when anyone can download a

beheading on his or her phone, tablet, or even wrist-

watch. In our inter-connected world of instant communication,

we are inevitably drawn into what once seemed distant

disputes, increasingly threatened by conflicts we can

neither resolve nor escape.

My reaction to such a world is Sweeney Todd. It is a

play about the darkest corners of human existence. It’s

also about our ways of dealing with evil: countering it

with virtue, disarming it with humor, crushing it with

force, or transforming it into art. Picasso’s Guernica,

Mathew Brady’s Civil War photographs, Spielberg’s

haunting Schindler’s List—Sweeney Todd belongs

among these unforgettable transmutations of evil. This

time out we’re in 1940 amidst the defining war of our

time, as Londoners “carry on” even when forced

underground by the nightly bombings of The Blitz.

Often that subterranean world included entertainers,

perhaps even entire theatre companies determined to

continue rehearsal for an upcoming production—a

production of Sweeney Todd.

Slashing through the 1848 serial novel A String of

Pearls, the first Sweeney was a maniac on the loose,

and each installment proved more shocking than the

last. By the time Sondheim turned Sweeney into the

greatest villain of the musical theatre, the demon

barber had become a complex everyman driven beyond

reason by the injustices of the British court and class

system. That we understand him, as well as his

entrepreneurial cohort Mrs. Lovett, makes the face

of evil fascinatingly human, even as we condemn it as

thoroughly inhumane. With two such unforgettable,

almost lovable protagonists to engage us, Sondheim

shows evil’s slippery slope, its rationale, even its comic

side marching in tandem with its tragedy. This is humanity,

for better or for worse, its poles of good and evil intertwined

until some resolution is found at last, some victory

declared. Or perhaps it’s just an armistice, temporarily

reached, aware that there’s always more to come.

19

GlossaryBeadle: A law enforcement or educational officer

Tonsorial Parlor: A barbershop

Upward mobility: The ability for someone of lower socio-economic means to gain wealth and social status in a

particular society

Transportation: The act of sending a criminal to serve out his sentence in another country or colony; in Sweeney

Todd/Benjamin Barker’s case, Australia

Botany Bay: A bay in modern day Sydney, Australia famous for being home to transported English prisoners in the

19th century

Librettist: The book writer or the person who writes the script for a musical

Asylum/Madhouse: A prison or home for people who were considered to be insane

Slums: Poor, over-crowded apartments in an urban environment

Industrial Revolution: A period of great economic and social change in the 18th and 19th centuries originating in

England that saw inventions like the steam power and that caused economies to shift from agriculture to

industrial

Penny Dreadfuls: Short, serialized stories of the Victorian age, filled with gruesome, often fantastical elements;

published in periodicals that cost a penny each

Grand Guignol: A type of French theater popular at the end of the 1800s that featured horror and violence

Esplanade: An open area for walking

Lavabo: A makeshift sink, a bowl with water for washing hands and implements; sometimes attached to a spigot

Muslin: A type of light fabric

Plymouth: A city on the south coast of England, about 190 miles southwest of London

20

Additional Resources“The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit” by Charles Dickens

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/968/968-h/968-h.htm

“The String of Pearls” (The original penny dreadful featuring Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street)

http://www.victorianlondon.org/mysteries/sweeney_todd-00.htm

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a 2007 film directed by Tim Burton, featuring Johnny Depp and

Helena Bonham Carter.

Sourceshttp://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/stephen-sondheim-2013-12/index4.html

http://www.thefloc.org/files/FLOC_SWEENEY_Study_Guide.pdf

http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000312mag-sondheim.html

http://www.thefloc.org/files/FLOC_SWEENEY_Study_Guide.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/28/obituaries/hugh-wheeler-award-winning-playwright.html

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1283/the-art-of-the-musical-stephen-sondheim

http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution

Fun FactsStephen Sondheim went to military school when he was ten years old.

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-1

Stephen Sondheim loves puzzles and word games. He used to write crossword puzzles for New York Mazine.

http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/crosswords/45747/

Sondheim liked to use yellow-lined paper and Blackwing pencils when he worked. They don’t make these kinds of

pencils anymore.

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-7

21

Student Matinees/STUDENT Feedback

Name____________________________________Grade_____________School_________________________________________

Performance Tasks based CA State theatre arts standards

Select and complete one of the following activities:

1. Rewrite the ending of the play. How would you like to see it end? Why?

2. Pick a moment in the play that affected you. Describe the stage elements that created that moment for you

(the script, acting, lighting, music, costumes, set design, sound design and/or direction).

3. Write a review of the play or an actor.

4. Describe something you would change in the production. Describe what benefit that change would create in

the production and why.

5. Identify and describe how this production might affect the values and behavior of the audience members who

have seen it.

6. Write about any careers you learned about in attending this production (example: stage hands, set designers,

actors, etc.).

Assessment Survey

No Maybe Yes Really Yes

I learned a lot from this experience 1 2 3 4

I would like to do this sort of project again 1 2 3 4

I will remember what I learned 1 2 3 4

STUDENT evaluation (cont)

Finish the following statements:

The most important thing I learned from this play was:

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Besides getting out of school, the best thing about attending this student matinee is:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learning through the theatre is different from my regular class because:

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If I could change something about attending a student matinee, I would:

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I'm going to use what I learned, saw, or experienced by:

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Student Matinee/TEACHER Evaluation

Name_____________________________________________________________________School___________________________

Please rate your Student Matinee experience below:

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Planning

I received sufficient and timely information 1 2 3 4

from TheatreWorks before the matinee

TheatreWorks maintained communication with 1 2 3 4

me and/or involved administrators at my school

It was clear to me that the production and study 1 2 3 4

guide incorporated curriculum standards

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Matinee Workshops

Supported other curriculum areas/subjects 1 2 3 4

Targeted students' educational needs 1 2 3 4

Provided a grade-appropriate experience 1 2 3 4

Engaged students' interest and attention 1 2 3 4

I would like to learn how to lead more of these 1 2 3 4

kinds of activities on my own in the classroom

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Post-Matinee

Students were engaged in this experience 1 2 3 4

The experience was valuable to my students' 1 2 3 4

education

The "Performance Tasks" were useful in helping 1 2 3 4

my students understand their experience

I would be interested in bringing more drama 1 2 3 4

related activities into my classroom

TEACHER Evaluation (cont)

For your classrooms please list the strengths of watching a student matinee.

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In terms of your teaching, did this particular Student Matinee give you any arts integration ideas foryour curriculum?_________________________________________________________________________________________

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We are very interested in your feedback. What worked for you about this experience? _________________________________________________________________________________________

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What did not work for you?_________________________________________________________________________________________

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Additional Comments:

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TheatreWorks student matinees tend to fill up quickly. Tickets for the 2014/15 season are available now—please visit theatreworks.org for the most up-to-date information. Please keep us updated with your current contact information to receive show announcements and booking information. Also, let us know if you havefriends who would like to be added to our mailing lists!