Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls. The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Street, Todd murders his customers with a straight razor and gives their corpses to Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, who bakes their flesh into meat pies. The tale has been retold many times since in various media.
Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are disputed strongly by scholars, although possible legendary prototypes exist.
Plot synopsis
In the original version of the tale, Todd is a barber who kills his victims by pulling a lever as they sit in his barber chair. His victims fall backward through a revolving trap door into the basement of his shop, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. In case they are alive, Todd goes to the basement and "polishes them off". In some adaptations, the murdering process is reversed, with Todd slitting his customers' throats before dispatching them into the basement through the revolving trap door. After Todd has robbed his dead victims of their goods, Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, assists him in disposing of the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop. Todd's barber shop is situated at 186 Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church, and is connected to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in nearby Bell Yard by means of an underground passage. In most versions of the story, he and Mrs. Lovett hire an unwitting orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, to serve the pies to customers.Literary history
Sweeney Todd first appeared in a story titled The String of Pearls: A Romance. This penny dreadful was published in 18 weekly parts, in Edward Lloyd's magazine The People's Periodical and Family Library, issues 7–24, published 21 November 1846 to 20 March 1847. It was probably written by James Malcolm Rymer, though Thomas Peckett Prest has also been credited with it; possibly each worked on the serial from part to part. Other attributions include Edward P. Hingston, George Macfarren, and Albert Richard Smith. During February/March 1847, before the serial was even completed, George Dibdin Pitt adapted The String of Pearls as a melodrama for the Britannia Theatre in Hoxton, east London. It was in this alternative version of the tale, rather than the original, that Todd acquired his catchphrase: "I'll polish him off".Lloyd published another, lengthier, penny part serial during 1847–1848, with 92 episodes. It was then published in book form in 1850 as The String of Pearls, subtitled "The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance". This expanded version of the story was 732 pages long. A plagiarised version of this book appeared in the United States c. 1852–1853 as Sweeney Todd: or the Ruffian Barber. A Tale of Terror of the Seas and the Mysteries of the City by "Captain Merry".
In 1865, the French novelist Paul H.C. Féval, famous as a writer of horror and crime novels and short stories, referred to what he termed "L'Affaire de la Rue des Marmousets" in the introductory chapter to his book La Vampire.
In 1875, Frederick Hazleton's c. 1865 dramatic adaptation Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls was published as volume 102 of Lacy's Acting Edition of Plays.
A scholarly, annotated edition of the original 1846–1847 serial was published in volume form in 2007 by the Oxford University Press with the title of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, edited by Robert Mack.
Alleged historical basis
The original story of Sweeney Todd is from an older legend that may contain motifs from even earlier stories. Possibly the oldest reference to the story in its present form is found in the journal of the Swedish traveller Pehr Lindeström. In his diary, dating from the middle of the 17th century, the story is set in Calais, which is also where the author heard the story. The story includes all the details of the legend, except for the name of the character. Another version relates to a supposed 1800 narrative of events in the rue de la Harpe, Paris, which appeared in an English version in Tell-Tale Magazine under the title "A Terrific Story of the Rue de la Harpe".In Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, the servant Sam Weller says that a pieman used cats "for beefsteak, veal, and kidney, 'cording to the demand", and recommends that people should buy pies only "when you know the lady as made it, and is quite sure it ain't kitten." Dickens then developed this in Martin Chuzzlewit, published two years before the appearance of Sweeney Todd in The String of Pearls, with a character named Tom Pinch who is grateful that his own "evil genius did not lead him into the dens of any of those preparers of cannibalic pastry, who are represented in many country legends as doing a lively retail business in the metropolis".
Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real person were first made in the introduction to the 1850 edition of The String of Pearls and have persisted to the present. In two books, Peter Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a historical person who committed his crimes around 1800. Nevertheless, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations do not find anything in these sources to verify Haining's claims.
In literature
A late 1890s reference to the legend of the murderous barber can be found in the poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson, "The Man from Ironbark".In Cozette de Charmoy's 1973 "collage novel", The True Life of Sweeney Todd, the character appears as a politically aware figure of social satire.
In his 2012 novel Dodger, Terry Pratchett portrays Sweeney Todd as a tragic character, having lost his mind after being exposed to the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars as a barber surgeon.
In performing arts
In stage productions
- The String of Pearls, a melodrama by George Dibdin Pitt that opened at Hoxton's Britannia Theatre and billed as "founded on fact". It was something of a success, and the story spread by word of mouth and acquired legendary characteristics. Various versions of the tale were staples of the British theatre for the rest of the century. The play was produced on Broadway during 1924 at the Frazee Theatre, featuring Robert Vivian as Sweeney Todd and Rafaela Ottiano as Mrs. Lovett.
- Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls, a dramatic adaptation written by Frederick Hazleton which premiered at the Old Bower Saloon, Stangate Street, Lambeth.
- Sweeney Todd, a four-act melodrama adapted from The String of Pearls by Brian J Burton who also composed new songs and lyrics. It was first performed at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham.
- Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a play by the British playwright Christopher Bond. This version of the story was the first to give Todd a slightly more sympathetic motive: he is Benjamin Barker, a barber convicted wrongfully who after 15 years in an Australian penal colony escapes and returns to London using the new name Sweeney Todd, only to find that Judge Turpin, who is responsible for his conviction, has raped his young wife Lucy and adopted Todd's daughter Johanna. He at first plans to kill Turpin, but when his prey escapes, he swears vengeance on humanity in general and begins to slash his customers' throats. He goes into business with Mrs. Lovett, his former landlady, who bakes his victims' flesh into pies. At the end of the play, he finally gets his revenge by killing Turpin, but then unknowingly kills his own wife, who Mrs. Lovett had misled him into believing had died. After learning the truth, he kills Mrs. Lovett, but is in turn killed by Mrs. Lovett's assistant and surrogate son Tobias Ragg, who slits Todd's throat with his own razor.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is a musical adaptation of Bond's play by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The show began on Broadway in 1979 and in London's West End in 1980. The show won multiple awards including the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. There have since been several revivals in the West End, on Broadway and elsewhere.
- Empanada Loca, a one-woman off-Broadway production written and directed by Aaron Mark for the LAByrinth Theater Company.
Dance
- Sweeney Todd, a ballet version performed by the Royal Ballet with music by Malcolm Arnold and choreography by John Cranko.
Movies
- Sweeney Todd, the first movie version of the story, a 15-minute British silent movie featuring G.A. Baughan in the title role, directed by George Dewhurst. The movie is now lost.
- Sweeney Todd, a British silent movie featuring Moore Marriott as Sweeney Todd and Iris Darbyshire as Amelia Lovett. This is the earliest surviving movie adaptation.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a movie version of the 19th-century melodrama featuring Tod Slaughter as Sweeney Todd and Stella Rho as Mrs. "Lovatt".
- Bloodthirsty Butchers, a horror movie with John Miranda as Sweeney Todd and Jane Helay as Maggie Lovett, directed by Andy Milligan.
- Mystery and Imagination Episode: "Sweeney Todd", a TV Movie directed by Reginald Collin, adapted for television by Vincent Tilsley and Brian Brooke. Starring Freddie Jones as Sweeney Todd, Peter Sallis as Brogden, Mundel and Hopkins, Russell Hunter as Crumbles, Dr. Fogg and Dr. Makepeace, Lewis Fiander as Mark Ingestrie, Heather Canning as Nelly Lovett and Molly, Mel Martin as Charley and Charlotte, Len Jones as Tobias, Barry Stanton as Beadle and Charles Morgan as Inspector Field.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a movie directed by Tim Burton, adapted from Sondheim's musical. It features Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony, and Ed Sanders as Toby. The movie received two Golden Globe Awards – one for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, and one for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. The movie was also nominated for three Academy Awards, winning for Art Direction.