Jovita Vaskeviciute

A 2014 French production of John Adams and Peter Sellars' opera Doctor Atomic at the Opéra national du Rhin.

In 1846, Anthony Hope sails into London with the mysterious Sweeney Todd, a once-naive barber whose life and marriage was uprooted by a corrupt justice system. Todd confides in Nellie Lovett, the owner of a local meat pie shop, and the two become partners, as Todd swears revenge on those that have wronged him and decides to take up his old profession.

The story is set in a wild and remote corner of 19th-century Lithuania, where folk customs and pagan beliefs still have a hold sway on the population. Here we meet a strange family consisting of the young count, Michel (Mykolas), who exhibits animalistic behaviours, and his mad mother who, as legend has it, was raped by a bear at her own wedding. Reputed to be the product of this bestial assault, the half-human half-bear falls in love with the beautiful girl from the next manor, Miss Julia, and asks for her hand in marriage. Will this union be enough to tame the young count’s dual nature?