Dark and utterly mesmerising, Lovett, currently showing at The Bridewell Theatre, is a compelling one-woman exploration of the woman behind one of Victorian literature’s most infamous characters.
Written and performed by Lucy Roslyn for the multi-award-winning BoonDog Theatre, the play reimagines Elinore “Nellie” Lovett, better known from the tale of Sweeney Todd, the “Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. Rather than simply presenting a villain, Roslyn asks a fascinating question: what could drive an ordinary young woman to become the notorious figure we know?
The production begins in darkness, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a knife being sharpened on a whetstone. As the lights rise, we discover a simple butcher’s block, a goblet of water and Nellie, dressed in a grubby chemise. Her clinical declaration that once an animal dies “it becomes a body” before eventually becoming meat immediately establishes the play’s gruesome, uncompromising tone. Her assertion that she is “undoing God’s work” hints at the complex relationship between faith and mortality that runs throughout the piece.
Through a series of flashbacks, Nellie’s history gradually unfolds. We meet her as a young woman struggling to survive, shaped by poverty, loss and an unforgiving society. As a child, she is eager to watch her father, a whaler, cut up a whale but has no desire to emulate her mother Helena’s life as a courtesan. Her marriage to the older butcher Armin Lovett eventually gives her the skills needed for her future.
Roslyn is nothing short of extraordinary. Her performance is breathtaking. As she takes revenge on Mon Père, the abusive cleric who haunted her childhood, her eyes blaze with a manic intensity, while a grotesque smile slowly spreads across her face.
As the sole performer, she transforms effortlessly into an entire cast of characters. A subtle shift in posture, a glance or a change in voice is enough to bring another personality vividly to life. With her mother Helena she creates the convincing illusion of two people sharing the stage. Irene, a one-eyed prostitute, is unforgettable, serving as a chilling reminder of the life Nellie might have been destined to endure.
The physical enactment is matched by Roslyn’s superb writing. The dialogue arrives in tender morsels, gradually exposing how childhood experiences and profound loss have fractured Nellie’s understanding of faith, justice and human value.
Jamie Firth’s direction, complemented by an immaculate soundscape of barking strays and crowing birds, creates a haunting portrait of Victorian London divided by class and circumstance.
Lovett is brutal, funny and tragic in equal measure. It is a dark and provocative piece of theatre that digs beneath the familiar Sweeney Todd mythology to offer something genuinely fresh.
Chillingly brilliant.
Five stars
Reviewed by Nina Gardner
Lovett is showing at The Bridewell Theatre until 24th September 2026
For tickets and further information see link below
https://www.ticketsource.com/boondogtheatre
Photo credit Clive Boursnell
Cast And Creatives
Written and performed by Lucy Roslyn
Directed by Jamie Firth
Sound Design by https://anniemayfletcher.co.uk/
Artwork by https://www.madisoncoby.co.uk/
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