Patricia Scarborough can make the prospect of a human meat pie sound like an entirely reasonable business decision. As Mrs. Lovett in Riverside Community Players’ “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” she brings a delightful sense of humor to some very dark material. Paired with Aaron Pyle’s increasingly bloodthirsty barber, she helps make Fleet Street a place where laughter comes with an uncomfortable aftertaste.

Directed by Cindi East, Christopher Bond’s melodrama offers revenge, romance and gruesome enterprise in the intimate surroundings of RCP’s arena stage. This is the play that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical, with the story carried here by its dialogue, performances and theatrical machinery. The production finds its strongest footing in the chemistry between its leads and a cast capable of giving the horror emotional weight.

In her director’s note, East calls the work a “delicious piece of bloody theater.” It is an apt description of a show that invites audiences to enjoy its wickedness while confronting the suffering beneath it.

Pyle gives Todd a convincing journey from a husband hoping to recover his family to a man willing to put almost anyone beneath his razor. Returning to London after an unjust sentence of transportation, Todd discovers that the people who destroyed his life have continued comfortably with their own. His grief gives the revenge story its initial pull. Pyle makes that hurt legible before allowing it to become something far more dangerous.

Eventually, the barber develops an appetite that revenge alone cannot satisfy and his willingness to expand the customer list quickly outgrows any pretense of a moral code. Pyle handles that progression well, allowing the character’s growing cruelty to emerge from the man who arrived looking for home.

Scarborough is a scene stealer alongside him. Her Lovett approaches the unfolding nightmare with practical concerns about business, food costs and what should or should not go to waste. That domestic sensibility makes her ghastly proposals particularly funny. Murder might be Todd’s consuming interest, but someone still has to mind the shop.

Their chemistry is a pleasure throughout. Lovett’s hopes for companionship and a comfortable future collide with Todd’s obsession, giving their partnership more to work with than a shared interest in disposing of inconvenient visitors. Scarborough supplies humor without making Lovett’s participation in the horror disappear.

Philip Kasinski’s Judge Turpin brings a different kind of ugliness to the stage. He is creepy and repellent in precisely the way the role demands, particularly in his scenes with Evynn Domenech’s Johanna Barker. His claim to protect the young woman in his care becomes a means of controlling her, with paternal authority giving cover to predatory intentions.

Domenech’s Johanna has more at stake than a romantic escape. Confined by Turpin and confronted with his plans for her, she must assert her own wishes against a man accustomed to having his commands obeyed. Her refusal gives those dark exchanges their resistance. Johanna’s longing for affection exists alongside an urgent need to regain control over her life.

Opposite her, Torrione Hodge plays Anthony Hope, the sailor whose love for Johanna draws him into the danger surrounding Todd’s return. Their scenes offer a welcome change from the barber shop’s murderous calculations. As Todd and Lovett imagine a future built on bloodshed and profit, Johanna and Anthony are trying to find a way out. Their romance gives the story something hopeful to protect.

One of the production’s most memorable performances comes from Louis Johnson as Tobias Ragg. The young actor keeps pace with his experienced castmates with impressive assurance, making Tobias’ enthusiasm and trust an effective part of the early comedy.

His transformation later in the play is fantastic. As Tobias begins to understand what surrounds him, Johnson takes the character into a state of terror and psychological unraveling effectively, allowing the audience to understand the devastating sense of a child overwhelmed by horrors beyond his ability to process. Johnson makes that change convincing, giving the production one of its strongest reminders that the violence has consequences beyond the next grim joke.

The stage design supports these shifts in tone. Todd’s barber chair sits on an elevated wooden platform, a prominent focal point within the surrounding audience seating. Counters, tables and period furnishings establish the other playing areas without diminishing the chair’s ominous presence. Smoke rises from the barber’s studio, while changing light beneath the platform helps shape the atmosphere.

East acknowledges the demands of the space in her program note, writing that “the challenge to mount this murderous tale in this arena was daunting.” The resulting design makes effective use of that intimacy. The business of Fleet Street unfolds close at hand, with the barber’s workplace always a troubling part of the landscape.

RCP’s “Sweeney Todd” offers plenty of macabre fun, led by Scarborough’s wicked humor and Pyle’s persuasive descent into violence. Kasinski makes the abuse of power deeply unpleasant, Domenech and Hodge provide the hope of escape, and Johnson gives the darkness a particularly affecting human cost.

East closes her note with an invitation: “Don’t be afraid to boo and hiss, as you may be next!” With this company presiding over the barber shop and pie counter, there is ample reason to take her up on it.

“Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” runs Oct. 30 through Nov. 15 at Riverside Community Players, 4026 14th St. in Riverside. For tickets and performance information, visit riversidecommunityplayers.com or call 951-686-4030.