This concept for SWEENEY TODD pays homage to the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim's hit musical: the mid-19th century penny dreadful called "The String of Pearls," which centers heavily around

horror-filled sensationalism and escapism for the working class who were just starting to experience a rise in literacy. As such, I set the show in a print shop, fully embracing the Brechtian elements that Sondheim and Wheeler incorporate into the script and allowing the shop workers to perform the story for one another as they might have done when the original story was being printed. In doing so, it also explores the relationship between entertainment and "intellectualism" through highlighting the historical and contemporary importance of theatre and performance within the working classes.