Lucy Barker

Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd. Lucy is the wife of barber Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by Judge Turpin, who wants Lucy for himself. After Turpin sexually abuses her, Lucy attempts suicide with poison, but survives and goes insane. Years later, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself "Sweeney Todd", returns to London and his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd about Lucy poisoning herself, but leaves out that Lucy lived. He later finds Lucy as a beggar woman; not recognizing her, he slits her throat, before killing Mrs. Lovett. Lucy appears in the musical adaptation Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the subsequent film adaptation. In the film, the character is portrayed by Laura Michelle Kelly. In the play she has been played most notably by Merle Louise, who won an Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical award from Drama Desk Award for her portrayal, and by Ruthie Ann Miles, who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Fictional biography In the original legend and in the earliest melodramas and plays, Sweeney Todd has no wife or backstory and is the primary villain of the stories he appears in. His wife Lucy first appears in Christopher Bond's play. She is the faithful and loving wife of Benjamin Barker and mother of Johanna Barker, whose life is destroyed by the evil Judge Turpin, who exiles her husband in order to have her all to himself. Soon afterward, Turpin rapes her, so she then poisons herself with arsenic. She survives, but goes insane and disappears to live as a poor beggar, surviving on alms. Mistakenly believing her to be dead, Barker undertakes a long string of murders, with the ultimate goal of killing Turpin in order to avenge the destruction of his family. In the 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Lucy Barker is the wife of Benjamin Barker, a barber in London's Fleet Street. They are happily married and have a new baby, Johanna. Turpin lusts after Lucy, and has Barker falsely arrested and exiled so that he can have her to himself. Lucy ignores his advances, staying faithful to her husband, never once leaving home. Finally, she is lured to Turpin's estate, led to believe that the judge feels responsible for her plight and wants to help her. This is not the case, however: Lucy arrives at Turpin's masquerade ball, where he drugs and sexually abuses her.