I’m ready for my close-up: Looking for Sweeney Todd, Originally broadcast 21/02/08

Recently brought to the attention of a new generation of media consumers through Tim Burton’s adaptation of the musical “Sweeney Todd: The demon barber of Fleet Street“, Todd has been terrifying Londoners for over 160 years. In a monologue written by Alex Fitch, comedienne Jessica Fostekew takes us on a tour of Sweeney’s haunts both actual and real from his birth in folklore and “penny dreadfuls” to his reincarnation as the star of biographies reprinted in the Daily Mail and a grand guignol avatar in the form of Johnny Depp. Jess and Alex try to sort out the facts of Sweeney’s “life” from the fiction through a literary landscape littered with comic strips, tabloid preoccupations and rivers running red with blood…

Performed by Jessica Fostekew, written by Alex Fitch, recorded and edited by Robin Warren

Thursday’s show is now available to download now…(mp3 format, 27.4mb)

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

Links: Jess’ pages at spotlight.com, castingcallpro.com and comedycv.co.uk

Jess’s film reviews: in (electronic) print and podcast

Robin’s band: Liberation Jumpsuit

Sweeney links… to follow