Staring at more than a dozen mentally deranged patients at a London insane asylum gives you shivers like no other—especially when they are acted out by performers as committed as the Sunnyvale Community Players. At the Sunnyvale Community Center, their weekend performances of the musical “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, directed by Matt Welch, hit the stage all the way from Sept. 17 to Oct. 10.

Seeing this star duo of many past MVHS drama productions advance to a community show was a pleasurable affair. Their performances lend themselves to the thrilling plot which was a driving force of raised eyebrows and covered eyes. The main conflict resided in Sweeney Todd (Walter M. Mayes), a London barber with a mysterious past ; Nellie Lovett [(Ruth E. Stein) , a humorous and elderly pie maker; and their joint human pie making business—a combination revolting to all.

Even though we have not seen the duo commit themselves to a role of such strange nature, both did not expose any room for criticism. They were true to their intent—scaring the living soul out of every member of the audience. As Sweeney Todd himself would say, “Welcome to the grave.”