Perse Sixth Form stars excel in Sweeney Todd production
Perse Sixth Form actors visited the darkly humorous Victorian world of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (School Edition) for their latest production.
They performed the acclaimed Stephen Sondheim musical across four shows to enthralled audiences in the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre (PAC).
Perse Director of Theatre David Barrett, who directed the show, felt the students rose to the occasion in their performances of such an intimidating work.
He said: “I wanted to do something that was musically challenging, which Sondheim certainly is. Ben Wingfield (Perse Director of Music) was also incredibly passionate about this project and it’s always great to have that collaboration with the music department.
“We wanted to do something specifically for the Sixth Form and we felt Sweeney Todd was right for them. The context is a bit dark to say the least, but really it’s black comedy and there are a lot of tongue-in-cheek elements.”
“I’ve worked with people who have performed Sweeney Todd professionally and they’ve talked about how difficult it was, but the students got on with it and embraced it. The way they dealt with the material was quite remarkable.
“The main challenge is the music because the timing and rhythm is all over the place and often something unexpected happens during a song, but the students really got their teeth into the material and really enjoyed doing it.
“It was mind-blowing how well the students did. They started well, but they got better and better and the principal casts were just fantastic. I’d say it was close to professional level by the time we finished the run, which is so exciting. This was a really talented group and we wanted to make the most of that because we knew they could do it.”
During the build-up to the production, dozens of children from Fulbourn, Teversham, King’s Hedges and The Bellbird Primary Schools, as well as Year 5 Prep pupils, spent the day in the PAC as they joined with the cast in an uplifting singalong of songs from Sweeney Todd.
The event was the climax to the music department’s annual community partnerships project, which sees Sixth Form mentors lead sessions at local primary schools as part of their enrichment programme.
Mr Wingfield said: “Sondheim’s score is so vibrant, exciting and singable that we thought it would be a fantastic chance for pupils to sing along. The songs have a lot of witty wordplay and although they challenge voices, they also encourage voices to be a bit more theatrical, so we were doing a lot of choreography, whispering and shouting, and really amping up the theatrical side of it all.
“The nice thing is the event wasn’t just a collaboration between drama and music, but also our enrichment and community partnerships programmes. It was an exciting and convivial day with our primary school partners.”
Mr Barrett added: “It was lovely to see the interaction between our Sixth Formers and the children who they knew from the enrichment sessions. I hope being involved in this will also inspire them.”