Humor sharpens the horror in Riverside Community Players’ ‘Sweeney Todd’

Where most people would see a reason to run, Mrs. Lovett sees opportunity. In Patricia Scarborough’s hands, that appalling practically becomes the comic engine of Riverside Community Players’ “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” a production that uses humor to make its darkness more unsettling.

Directed by Cindi East, Christopher Bond’s “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” runs Oct. 30 - Nov. 15 at Riverside Community Players. Billed as “a melodrama,” this is the play that inspired Stephen Sondheim’s musical. The talented cast balance grotesque comedy with genuine horror, anchored by Scarborough’s partnership with Aaron Pyle as Todd, making this a must see experience this Halloween.

East embraces the material’s gruesome fun, describing it as a “delicious piece of bloody theatre.”

“Don’t be afraid to boo and hiss, as you may be next!” she said.

The story follows the return of a barber to London after being unjustly “transported” abroad as punishment. Hoping to reunite with his family, he instead discovers the corruption of the local magistrate that destroyed his family, and left his daughter as a ward of the corrupt judge. Revenge, and death, become his purpose, while Mrs. Lovett recognizes a new opportunity for free meat for her pie shop. Alongside their gruesome enterprise, Anthony Hope, played by Torrione Hodge, and Johanna Barker, played by Evynn Domenech, pursue a chance to escape Judge Turpin’s control.

Scarborough is a scene stealer who brings delightful humor to a woman whose willingness to be Todd’s accomplice to violence is anything but harmless. Her chemistry with Pyle gives their partnership its force: Lovett’s opportunism and Todd’s growing appetite for murder fit together with disturbing ease.

It’s this relationship that holds the production competing tones together. Scarborough makes Lovett entertaining without making the implications of her partnership disappear. Her humor provides relief, but the business of death she is building remains horrifying.

Pyle gives Todd a convincing progression from grieving husband and father to serial killer with a taste for death. His beginning hope for recovering a life gives the character somewhere to fall from allowing us to go with him on this journey. Grief and anger become rage and thirst for death as he maps out his plans for revenge against those responsible for his suffering.

It’s easy for the audience to feel for Todd initially as he plans his revenge, but as his appetite for death expands, that sympathy becomes harder to justify. Pyle handles that shift really well, including some well timed and executed fourth wall breaks with the audience, allowing the character’s initial purpose to give way to indiscriminate violence. The family man and friend returning home and the killer he becomes remain recognizably connected.

Philip Kasinski supplies a different kind of horror as Judge Turpin. His performance is creepy, repellent, and executed beautifully, especially in the scenes with Johanna, his ward. Turpin’s predatory behavior gives the production a disturbing counterweight to its comedy. His authority and abuse of power supplies protection for his own cruelty, while Johanna is left vulnerable and confined.

Louis Johnson’s Tobias Ragg deserves a shout out. Johnson holds his own alongside the production’s older, experienced actors, and his transformation in the second half is among the show's strongest achievements.

Tobias’ movement from youthful, naive, and loyal apprentice into terror makes the consequences of the surrounding violence painfully visible. Johnson effectively conveys a young person becoming psychologically overwhelmed by the horrors he can’t process. As Todd and Lovett’s partnership drives the plot, Tobias gives that plot a human cost.

The intimate staging reinforces the overall atmosphere of the play, and the playbill gives the audience a map of the show so they don’t get lost. Audience seating surrounds the play space, which creates its own challenge for the storytelling.

“I mean, the challenge to mount this murderous tale in this arena was daunting,” East said.

The design gives the stage a clear visual focus. Counters, small tables and period-style chairs establish the separate areas of this London world. Above them, the barber chair occupies a raised wooden platform, a prominent and constant reminder of Todd’s growing obsession.

Red lighting, rising smoke, and shifting lights sets and shapes the mood throughout the production. These elements give the space an ominous focus without requiring elaborate staging and scenery.

The production is a success with its relationship between humor and horror. Scarborough and Pyle make Todd and Lovett compelling company, while Kasinski and Johnson keep the cruelty and its consequences in view. The laughter has a cost and this cast makes that cost felt.

“Sweeney Todd” runs Oct. 30 through Nov. 15 at Riverside Community Players, 4026 14th St., Riverside. Tickets are $20, with evening performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available through the theater’s official ticket portal. For specific dates and availability, call 951-686-4030. No late seating is permitted