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Sweeny Todd


dbuckley

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From Kiwi newssite Stuff, Two taken to hospital after St Kentigern College musical production goes wrong.

 

A horror opera has come to life at an exclusive Auckland high school after two teens were injured during opening night. St John ambulance service said two people were injured at St Kentigern's College in Pakuranga shortly after 9pm on Wednesday and transported to Auckland Hospital.

 

One person had serious injuries, while another sustained moderate injuries. The two students were still in hospital on Thursday morning and were in a stable condition, an Auckland Hospital spokesperson said.

 

There have been reports the teenage boys received cuts to the neck during the school's production of Sweeney Todd. In some versions of the musical, adapted from a Victorian penny dreadful, Sweeney Todd (a barber) slits his victims' throats before disposing of them through a trapdoor.

 

According to the school's website, the Saint Kentigerns rendition tells how Sweeny Todd, a barber turned serial-killer, sets up a barbers shop above a struggling pie shop and kills his victims using a razor blade. He and Mrs Lovett, the pie shop owner, then turn the victims' corpses in to meat pies.

 

St Kentigern College's website [Waayback machine archive link] said; "The biggest challenge of all, however, was the ghoulish murder scenes themselves, as Todd's barbering skills cleanly dispatched victim after victim. Let's just say there was 'gore' – and plenty of it!"

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Something is very, very odd here. I know someone who is involved with the production but he's (very wisely) not saying anything about it.

 

Also, annoyed that the journalist has called it "St Kentigern's rendition" rather than Sondheim's version...

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I know nothing about this case but would think blunting it enough is quite hard as the blade is thin so even if you take off the very edge it will still be nasty across someones throat. It could soon cut through the duct tape if it was run across something solid like the corner of a props table or a leather strop on stage. Even the blade being flicked in to the handle repeatedly could do it.

 

So a student ASM gives the edge a bit of a rub with a file, covers it in tape and tries it gently across their thumb then everything is OK but after a week of rehearsals/performances and being on a props table where everyone will have played with it then in the heat of performance the student actor gets carried away and is rougher then usual.

 

This is absolute conjecture and is just a reply to posts saying they can not understand how it could have happened.

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Making an metal object /not/ sharp is surprisingly difficult, taking something that's been designed and engineered to be (literally) razor sharp and make it blunt and safe is virtually impossible. You'd be amazed just how much of my time is spent trying to find ways to make knives/blades/axes/spikes sufficiently not-sharp that the don't injure people whilst they're being handled and the tools involved. I cannot believe for one second that an amateur or inexperienced person could even begin to convert a real blade in to something that is safe enough to withstand the rigours of performance.
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Yeah, still a top news story.

 

The karma event is that the health and Safety at Work Act 2016 came into force a few days ago, so this will probably end up being a test case fore the new legislation. Theres been a lot of scaremongering about this act, with stuff like head teachers threatening to put their houses into trusts (You read the news - you know New Zealand is good with trusts, yes?) so that if they get fined the maximum of $600K their houses will be safe.

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IF that story is true and the Principal knew what was being used, one can only hope he will soon be looking for employment away from children - after he is out of hospital due to a large law book hitting him.

 

To think that using a real blade wrapped in paper/tape is acceptable is bordering on insanity. In fact, maybe he should be sectioned! :o

 

St Kentigern College principal Steve Cole said the school's Sweeney Todd production used a real razor wrapped in duct tape and paper.

 

The razor had been used throughout rehearsals without incident, he said.

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As I noted: we have some brand new legislation to test out. And it wont just be the principal either; the law requires everyone to be responsible for H&S, and to take "all reasonably practicable steps" to ensure same. Given that there was no functional need to have a working knife, and this is theatre and the concept of making props exist, I can't see how this isn't going to end badly. Especially as during rehearsals someone got knicked.

 

The black humour in this is that heads of schools around the country have been serioulsy considering not letting kids climb trees any more, which is something that kids do in New Zealand. They are also considering removing play equipment from their schools, and no longer taking kids on camps. Stuff that the government says is a crazy misunderstanding of the legislation; risks have to be managed, kids do not need to be wrapped in cotton wool. And then a week in, throats get slashed.

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Yes and those of us working in education back in 1985 when that silly fool allowed a party of middle school kids to wander around unsupervised on the cliffs at Lands End will remember just how that affected the most simple school trips afterwards.
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