Contents: IntroductionPlot Summary Characters Themes Critical Overview Criticism Sources Further Reading |
Style
Musical
More than half of the play is sung, often without a clear melody, and employs natural, conversational syntax. The play opens with a prologue sung by the company that outlines its main focus. The musical sequences that follow often provide symbolic echoes of the plot. For example, in the first scene after Sweeney and Anthony arrive in London, Anthony sings the city's praises. Sweeney has a contrary view of London, however, that he expresses in a song which describes the city as "a hole in the world; / Like a great black pit / And the vermin of the world / Inhabit it." His vitriolic personification of the city reflects his anger over the loss of his wife and daughter. Ironically, he will eventually fall into that same pit of corruption.
Later Johanna sings out the window of Judge Turpin's house, feeling like the confined birds she sees the street vender hawking: "Have you decided it's / Safer in cages, / Singing when you're told? / My cage has many rooms / Nothing there sings, / not even my lark."
Dramatic Structure
As the plot unfolds, Wheeler often creates a collage of scenes, making quick cuts back and forth between story lines. This juxtaposition emphasizes the thematic unity in the play. One such segment involves Sweeney and Anthony. As the scene cuts back and forth between the two characters, the play's focus on the interplay of innocence and corruption is reinforced. The scene opens with Anthony searching the streets of London for Johanna, singing of her beauty and insisting that he will save her. While he continues the search in one corner of the stage, the barber shop is lit in another, where Sweeney also praises Johanna's beauty. He doubts though that he will see her again. The two men sing her name together as Sweeney vents his rage by slitting a customer's throat. An ironic touch is added when the customer's mouth opens simultaneously with theirs as his throat is cut.
