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"Die! Die! God in heaven - die!" Mrs Lovett, the London pie shop owner who finds a novel use for corpses in Sweeney Todd, screams as bodies pile up onstage.
Roughly a baker's dozen are dispatched by the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street" in Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Tony award-winning Broadway musical that, despite its macabre plot, including a side order of cannibalism, has taken on a...life of its own.
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Selina Cartmell, English director of the dark, atmospheric Dublin production, thinks the tale set in early 19th-century London, depicting figures of authority like Judge Turpin as abusers of power and trust, hits a timely chord.
"I'm sure this obviously has a lot of relevance in any era, in any century," she told Reuters. "...I think there are certain things in Sweeney which hold true for today, still resonate."
Maria Friedman, singing the resourceful Mrs Lovett in London, thinks it's mostly a good yarn.
© Reuters
