AMATEUR dramatics and musical theatre group Pukka are preparing to bring their dark and moody production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd to the Paget Rooms.

Based on the 1970 play by Christopher Bond, this retelling of the story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street first appeared in 1979 with music an lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Recently revived at the Chichester Festival Theatre followed by a hugely successful run in the West End, this dark tale of obsession, injustice and revenge is brilliantly brought to life by the foremost amongst musical theatre performers Michael Bennett in the title role, ably supported by a talented and experienced cast.

Benjamin Barker, a skilled barber, is falsely charged and sentenced to a life of hard labour in Australia by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusts after Barker's young wife Lucy.

Now under the assumed name Sweeney Todd, Barker returns to London with the sailor Anthony Hope. At his old Fleet Street lodgings above Mrs Nellie Lovett's pie shop, he discovers that Lucy has poisoned herself and his teenage daughter Joannah is now the Judge's ward and, like her mother before her, the object of the Judge's unwanted affection. Armed with the silver cut-throats Mrs Lovett has kept hidden, Todd reopens his barber shop and sets out on a journey of carnage seeking his ultimate revenge.

The innovative staging, direction and fantastic choreography of director Sarah Creasey, MD David George Harrington and choreographer Sarah Hudson intersperses moments of real beauty and humour into this dark and moody tale emanating from Victorian London of the mid 19th century when industrialisation was sweeping across the country bringing with it a grim life for the less fortunate.

Sweeney Todd will be performed at the Paget Rooms, Penarth from Tuesday, July 26 to Saturday, July 30.

Tickets cost £15 and are available by calling 07917 881220 or visit pukkaproductions.org.uk or wegottickets.com