The Score – Theatre Royal Haymarket

Oliver Cotton’s new play, The Score, is based on the visit of Johann Sebastian Bach to Frederick the Great at his palace in Potsdam in 1747. During that visit Frederick challenged Bach to improvise a fugue based upon a tune he had written. That led to the creation of Bach’s famous anthology ‘The Musical Offering’. Cotton has used his script to explore religious and philosophical themes based upon the supposed conflict between the devout peace-loving musician and the militaristic atheistic political leader. The play is both engaging and humorous and raises important issues.

Brian Cox as Bach is the dominant character throughout the play. Cox’s gravitas and underlying sympathy make him a great choice to play this role, which he does superbly. He is also supported by an excellent cast. Jamie Wilkes plays Bach’s son Carl, himself an eminent musician and concert harpsichordist in Frederick’s Royal Orchestra. Toby Webster, Matthew Romain and Christopher Staines play three fawning composers at the Court and bring much of the humour to the play. Stephen Hagan made an excellent handsome and self-assured Frederick.

The play was set on a basically bare stage, although one on which there was plenty to see, as partial back drops were flown in to indicate the changes in location. Furniture moving, and there was quite a lot of it, including harpsichords, was done by the cast and by stagehands also dressed in 18th-century costume.

The costumes designed by Robert Jones were magnificent: full 18th-century court dress and military uniforms. Trevor Nunn’s direction was as deft as ever with the many short scenes merging into each other seamlessly. Only the miming of the playing of the keyboards slightly grated, but that was rather inevitable, given the difficulty of finding excellent actors were also play proficiently.

The script was engaging and fast flowing, and the dialogue very modern. I did wonder though whether Bach would have in fact have shown quite so little deference to his monarch as was demonstrated in the lively interactions between the two. Or indeed whether Frederick would have been as tolerant as he appeared to be of views which opposed his own. Nevertheless, it was the dialogue between these two which was the highlight of the production. The play was however a little long at two hours and 40 minutes including the interval, and the end began to drag. I felt that the number of scenes at the end could have been reduced to make for a tighter script. What was interesting was how often I reflected on how the politics of 400 years ago, especially fawning admiration for a despotic leader and a highly militarised society, was increasingly relevant to our own times.

The Score is playing at the Rose Theatre Royal Haymarket until 26th April. Tickets are available from https://trh.co.uk/whatson/the-score/.

Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd

Reviewed: 27th February 2025

North West End UK Rating: