Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street first appeared in this musical form in 1979. Adapted from an original play by Christopher Bond, the work was set to music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, with a book by Hugh Wheeler. It quickly became a huge success, opening on both Broadway and the West End within a year. Following Tony and Olivier wins, the show has seen revival after revival over the years, as well as a musical film starring Johnny Depp. Now, Birmingham Rep presents its own pared-back version of the show, featuring some big stars of the theatre world. So, the question is, is Sweeney Todd as razor-sharp as it once was? What is clear to all at the outset is that director Joe Murphy, also artistic director at Birmingham Rep, has assembled a remarkable and bold cast for the show. Leading as Sweeney is Ramin Karimloo, whose bio speaks for itself and is the biggest draw for this show, especially for theatres outside London. His Sweeney is a perfectly brooding affair, broken...
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is one of John Le Carré’s more well-known titles in his world of spy fiction, and having been adapted into a highly rated 1965 film with Richard Burton, it is perhaps surprising that it took until 2024 for this stage adaptation to appear, adapted by David Eldridge, and now at Milton Keynes Theatre. In many ways, it feels like a ripe story for a stage play, with locations and theatre folk often liking the cerebral storytelling it offers, so this should be perfect for the stage? The Spy Who Came in From the Cold depicts Alec Leamas, a British intelligence officer, being sent to East Germany as a faux defector to sow disinformation about Hans-Dieter Mundt, a powerful East German intelligence officer. However, as expected in the spy world, all is not as it seems, and with the lurking figure of the supposedly retired spy George Smiley in the background, Leamas finds things moving far from his control. It has to be said that Eldridge’s adaptation struggles...