Theatre News

Casting announced for Sweeney Todd in Tooting pie shop

The site-specific staging will star Siobhan McCarthy and Jeremy Secomb

Siobhan McCarthy will play Mrs Lovett
Siobhan McCarthy will play Mrs Lovett
© Dan Wooller

Casting has been announced for an upcoming site-specific production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd in Tooting.

As revealed by WhatsOnStage earlier this month, Tooting Arts Club has teamed up with the historic Harrington's Pie and Mash shop on the production, which opens on 27 October for a five-week run.

The pie-making Mrs Lovett will be played by Siobhan McCarthy, whose credits include Donna in Mamma Mia! (for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award) and Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray.

She'll be joined by Jeremy Secomb (The Phantom of the Opera, Lend Me A Tenor) as Sweeney, David Freedman as Judge Turpin (a role he has previously played at the Bloomsbury Theatre), and Ian Mowat as his faithful Beadle.

The cast also includes Kiara Jay as Pirelli/Beggar Woman, Nadim Naaman as Anthony, Grace Chapman as Johanna and Joseph Taylor as Tobias.

Audiences will congregate at Anton's barber shop before being shown through to Harrington's, where the décor, little changed since it was opened in 1908, will provide the setting for Mrs Lovett's infamous establishment.

Director Bill Buckhurst sad: "This will be Sondheim's Sweeney Todd stripped-back and up-close with a cast of eight, a band of three and a uniquely atmospheric space – the perfect setting for this thrilling tale of love, betrayal, lust and murder."