SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
By Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Scenic Design by Porter Lance
Production Team
Director: Andrew Barratt Lewis
Lighting Designer: Marley Keith
Costume Designer: Catherine Zublin
Sound Designer: Korey Lamb
Props Design: Tichelle Blaylock
Production Stage Manager: Adam Hellewell
Production Photos: David Daniels
The Design Approach
“Beauty turned to filth and greed”. Setting the show in an abandoned and fire damaged theater mirrors the degradation of Sweeney’s character through neglectful decay and indiscriminate rage. A play within a play, the metatheatrical setting hauntingly echoes the call to “attend the tale”.
Production Photos: "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (Top Left), "Pirelli's Miracle Elixer" (Bottom Left), "Poor Thing" (Right)
The Director's Vision
The director wanted to explore the idea of fiery destruction sealing an inevitable fate, and a story rising from the ashes. The central image was a coffin on fire. There was emphasis placed on the metatheatricality, with all of the "theatre magic" in full view of the audience, including the ensemble onstage at all times.
Research Gallery
The paintings of artist Nicola Samori also offered great inspiration in the form of style and tone.
The World of the Play
Collaborating with the director, we decided to set the play in an abandoned 19th century theater. The stage was made up of old set pieces, furniture, and theatre technology, all in differing states of decay, and all used in inventive and suggestive ways to tell the story. Constantly shifting, each scene was created onstage by the cast from this odd assortment of forgotten theatre objects.
Initial Sketch
1/4" Model Gallery
Scenic Storyboard
A storyboard was essential for the production team to keep track of the many choreographed scene changes and varied looks throughout the show. I used the app Procreate, creating different layers for different set pieces, as a tool to digitally build each scene with the director.
SWEENEY DRAFTING PACKET.pdfDrafting Packet
My first time designing show of this size, I both enrolled in an AutoCAD course at my university and worked individually with my technical director to fulfill the drafting requirements for the show.
The Chair
Subverting the show’s traditional body disposal mechanism of chair lever and trap door, we instead took employed a rococo-throne-style chair, mounted on casters, which was wheeled into a slit in a “burned” drop at the back of the stage. Our Sweeney transported his victim to the singed drop, where the "deceased" actor seamlessly slipped out the hole unseen. This was a low-tech and highly theatrical solution that perfectly fit into the world we were building.
Production Photo: "The Wigmaker's Sequence"
The Fire Curtain
Inspired by period theatre safety curtains, I used a singed fire curtain as a striking and darkly comical microcosm of the show's design approach. The drop served a great function by ornamenting the act break, closing on the iconic "Little Priest", and kicking off act 2 by dramatically being sliced open for Toby's entrance.
Production Photo: "God That's Good!"
The Rake
Building from my director's initial vision and a desire to put the action of the play as close to the audience as possible, I decided to extend the rake into the orchestra pit, going lower the traditional line of the stage. This created a designation to the "onstage" area of the space, and implied an unseen "descent", and gave the entire set a sunken and decayed feeling. It also allowed for entrances and exits from below, and unique lighting from "within".
Production Photo: "Parlour Songs"
Production Photo: "God That's Good!"
Integrating Lighting
I worked closely with the lighting designer early in the process to integrate onstage practical lighting and shadow effects. This included collaborating on artistic vision, choice of materials, the lineset schedule, and on parts of the ground plan.
Production Photo: "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Reprise)"
LINESET SCEHDULE
The lighting designer and I collaborated on the lineset schedule to ensure that all moving parts- including drops, borders, traveling masking, flying bird cages, and mock hemp-rail ropes- wouldn't interrupt the beam of any instruments, or intrude on the range of any moving lights.
Audience Experience
The show was well received, with often very audible responses from audiences that exceeded my expectations, which acted as a clear testament to the congruence of all artistic elements. In retrospect, the theatrical setting may not be as clear and relevant to the average audience, but ultimately, even the audience members without knowledge of theatre architecture experienced a unique and exciting world.
Production Photo: "Worst Pies in London"
Production Photo: "Johanna"
Production Photo: "The Final Sequence"
Production Photo: "Johanna II"
Production Photo: "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Reprise)"
Production Photo: "By The Sea"
Production Photo: "Fogg's Asylum"
Production Photo: "Epiphany"
In Retrospect
The use of large burned and tattered drops, grand set pieces heavily textured with ash and grime, and onstage lighting and shadow effects all gave the space a unique life force that wonderfully complemented Sweeney's. The set acts as a clear visual companion to the story being told to the audience- a dense and layered story of fiery destruction, inevitable fate, and the ashes that are left behind- ashes that contain a story destined to be told again and again.
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porterlance@mail.weber.edu