Acting giant rises above disappointing play

Theatre Royal Haymarket

Brian Cox has brought his well-received 2023 portrayal as Bach from Theatre Royal Bath to London’s West End. Oliver Cotton‘s play that sets the great composer in opposition to a warmongering Frederick II of Prussia was too long (and meandering) for most reviewers but redeemed by the central performance. Trevor Nunn‘s period production went down well.

4 stars

Greg Stewart for Theatre Weekly found much to like: ‘This is a play that is intellectually stimulating more than entertaining, but it also resonates on an emotional level, exploring universal themes of power, faith, and artistic integrity. The pacing is generally strong, though the whole thing could benefit from tighter editing.’ Like all the other critics, he found ‘Brian Cox delivers a masterclass performance as Bach, capturing the composer’s inner turmoil and unyielding principles with gravitas and nuance.

Laurie Yule for The Stage declared, ‘ it’s a treat to hear Cox…in an auditorium, where his vocal technique, pitch and projection can really grab you.’ She stated, ‘The story, as with all worthwhile historical plays, resonates with our times, and the portrayal of Bach is irresistible and bittersweet.’

Two prominent outlets decided not to review the West End run, presumably because they reviewed it in Bath-

This is what Dominic Cavendish of the Telegraph said in 2023 of the moment the composer and the King meet: ‘After a slow-burn set-up, it’s a blazing scene that plays to Cox’s strengths as a stage animal, forbidding as he stoutly stands his ground and locks eyes with Stephen Hagan’s haughty Frederick, but also invested with deep humanity.’

3 stars

Lucinda Everett for WhatsOnStage called it a ‘musing, meandering play’ ‘Despite Robert Jones’s sumptuous set and costumes, free-flowing jokes, and the kind of consummate directing you’d expect from Trevor Nunn, it feels turgid at times.’ ‘But this play has a trick up its sleeve: its Bach is Brian Cox …and he is mesmerising.’

Tim Bano writing for the Standard states ‘while the play has lofty ambitions and director Trevor Nunn knows how to stage them grandly, and despite a towering Cox as the main man, unlike Bach’s music too often the whole thing clunks and flounders.’

Theo Bosanquet from LondonTheatre said ‘Trevor Nunn’s detailed, expansive production makes for a long evening (two hours 40 minutes) and there are several longueurs, particularly in the first act, that could be excised. But it’s a fascinating chapter of history that feels deeply pertinent in light of the current European conflict – particularly when Bach and Frederick argue over whether his military operation constitutes an invasion.’

Dominic Maxwell for The Times had his own gripe: ‘while much of the acting is strong, while the ideas are intriguing if underdeveloped, the musical element is only just adequate.’ The reason being what he called ‘naff’ miming. At the Bath premiere, The Times’ Clive Davis gave four stars.

Back in 2023, Arifa Akbar in The Guardian said ‘The production is redeemed by its star billing in Brian Cox, who plays the genius musician with such magnetism that he almost singlehandedly saves this play…Even when the script is careening from period comedy to philosophical debate on doubt and salvation, Cox has the ability to dart from light to dark which the others can’t quite navigate.’

2 stars

Rachel Halliburton at The Arts Desk summarised her reaction: ‘The Score is a curious beast of a play – part comedy of manners, part Blackadder-style history, part impassioned rhetoric against the abuse of power. The higher the emotional stakes, the more compelling Cox is in his disgruntled disdain for Frederick’s gilded tyranny, but the rest of the play just doesn’t hold together.’

Cindy Marcolina of BroadwayWorld felt she was shortchanged: ‘The marketing makes it out to be an explosive meeting between church and state, between a god-fearing, scripture-quoting composer and an atheist, belligerent, ruthless monarch. That’s not exactly how it goes and the theatricality of the event is rather underwhelming.’ She blamed ‘a lengthy and inconsistent script that swiftly turns into a vehicle for anecdotal politics and bite-size philosophy.’