In her dressing room, an aging prima donna gets ready for a show. She has been playing Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd for the last 19 years and she sees today as no different. Unbeknownst to her, however, on this particular day the fragile props which underpin her life will begin to fall away. Will she make it to the stage?
Both funny and dark, Encore! pulls the curtain aside and takes a look backstage at the creative types behind the performance…

Audience Responses

Very entertaining piece...beautifully executed..both actors particularly good and commanding in their roles..especially the quick character changes of Chris Fisher. Nice to be introduced to a really pleasant new venue! Thank you!

Thought-provoking piece - commentary on theatre & acting careers; excellent characterisations by Chris Fisher

I think the Piece and the Actors / Writer / Director have great potential. In short - the actress was too young to be believable as 48 years - and too inexperienced for the HUGE emotional range required. The actor fared better in his array of nicely observed characters. It bothered me that the piece was so pointedly localized - but where in cape town could one begin to imagine a Sweeny Todd run of 20 years?? Some re-looking at the female character would be good: I never empathised with her at all - and by the end I was hoping that window she was going to escape through was a little higher than the ground floor. BUT - she has great potential - as does the script. We had a good evening at the Alexander - and kudos for giving pieces like this a platform x Roy

The 'star' was unconvincing, partly because of her youth, but needed a strong director to avoid the pitfall of over-acting. But the play itself was the main culprit.

Chris Fisher gave a phenomenal performance. How he transformed effortlessly between characters was a pure pleasure to watch! Was captivated from start to finish.