★★★★

“unique, mysterious, dreamlike, ethereal and challenging”

Since the beginning of time humankind has had a fascination with the unknown. Our imaginations and desires have been fired to explore the world, and beyond, to its limits. One of the greatest and simplest discoveries that this quest has revealed is the realisation that deep space and the deep sea are not that different. What is curious, though, is that we spend more time reaching out into space, while much of our own planet – under the sea – remains unexplored. This is the starting point, and the focus, of Sir Wayne McGregor’s latest work, “Deepstaria”.

The title comes from one of the ocean’s more mysterious jellyfish. A fragile, gossamer-thin creature. Ghost like and elusive. Its full name is ‘Deepstaria Enigmatica’, which is apt as McGregor’s dance piece is a very enigmatic affair. Collaborating with Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker, music producer LEXX and lighting designer Theresa Baumgartner, he has created something quite unique but, like bodies lost in space, we’re never really sure where it is going. There are clear references to the deep sea, and hints of outer space; and the vast unknown is symbolised by being plunged intermittently into a void of darkness. It is through a burst of this episodic blackness (courtesy of something called Vantablack Vision) that we are led into the dance.

Nine dancers inhabit the space. As though underwater their movements are floating. Aqueous and boneless. Sometimes in slow motion, sometimes gathering momentum, reflecting unknown currents that propel them. They emerge from rockpools of light, fluid and agile. McGregor’s choreography is mesmerising and the dancing meticulous. The music throbs, tethered to every sinew in mood and rhythm. But then a jolt severs the connection, and we are left in the void again. It is bewitching and disturbing.

The dancers leave the ocean; we appear to be on a shoreline. The light ebbs and flows like shallow waves. Baumgartner’s design certainly comes to the fore with some breathtaking effects. Slanting beams become fine rain with astonishing realism. Red hot washes alternate with marine blue mists. Through these sequences the performers ripple. Initially near-naked, later evolving into androgynous figures in Ilaria Martello’s diaphanous costumes – the deep-sea references underscored beautifully.

The experience is almost like gazing into a giant aquarium. We are transfixed, yet it is excruciatingly monotonous. Exquisitely so, nevertheless. Our senses are thrilled but the effect never quite reaches our heart. Like the musical soundtrack it scratches at the emotions until we almost feel we have had enough. Yet we never switch off. The balletic quality of the performers repeatedly draws us back into their complex world. It is fathomless and unfathomable. Like its gelatinous namesake, “Deepstaria” is unique, mysterious, dreamlike, ethereal and challenging. Sir Wayne McGregor CBE is a trailblazing choreographer who innovatively dips his toes into other artforms. With this show he dives headfirst into the depths. It is ultimately a thrilling collaboration.

THE SCORE

Theatre Royal Haymarket

★★★1/2

“Cox, booming yet nuanced, is at a canter to reach the next cutting quip”

What’s The Score?

The sporting pun is not entirely misplaced. A major sequence in this uneven play of ideas sees the sycophantic court of Frederick the Great hosting a frantic wager with Carl, the son of composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

It’s a 1747 head-to-head between supreme monarch and ageing genius.

The king claims elderly Bach, freshly arrived from Leipzig, cannot improvise a three-part fugue based on Frederick’s own simple melody which has been worked into a knotty puzzle by his three stooge composers. It is, says one, “unfuguable”.

Carl says otherwise, betting his meagre funds and his standing in court on his father, who is sick, tired, unpredictable and cantankerous but still “the greatest composer in Europe”.

This showdown is typical of writer Oliver Cotton’s hodge-podge script. It is fun, elaborate in the set-up, and Brian Cox – who doesn’t just inhabit Bach but swallows him whole – lands the multiple pay-offs exquisitely.

But where does this fit into the play? Is it the highlight, a metaphor, or just some passing frippery? Does the play even know? The script roams freely across a number of topics – religion, morality, tyranny, creativity, inspiration – without really choosing a main course.

Its purpose, perhaps (and it is a grand and worthy one) is to provide a sufficiently gargantuan role for the operatic, rip-roaring Cox, who is on top form.

With his accented voice emerging like an eruption of lava from the depths, he leaps on the fluctuating states of Bach’s mind with an actor’s relish.

So much to choose from.

There’s indignant Bach, outraged by the king’s warmongering. There’s morose Bach, losing eyesight and significance. There’s courageous Bach, challenging the tyrannical king over his soldiers’ debauchery. There’s tormented Bach, everything coming from God but now troubled by doubt. Above all, there’s sitcom Bach – with his masterful pauses, hangdog putdowns and dry asides.

Cox, booming yet nuanced, is at a canter to reach the next cutting quip. Professional discipline dictates that he cannot yield to an obvious urge to eyeroll at the audience for another bite at the comedy cherry.

In his wake, the supporting cast do their best to keep up.

The expansionist king (Stephen Hagan) is affably dangerous, talking about Prussia First in terms that are disconcertingly relevant. His verbal duels with Bach, which anger the monarch but also give him a moment’s pause, represent the dramatic peak despite lacking real threat or menace.

A good show too from Jamie Wilkes as Carl, the son and foil, who does much of the thankless legwork supporting an ailing and disgruntled Bach. The brainless scheming of the three composers Christopher Staines, Toby Webster and Matthew Romain (as Quantz, Benda and Graun – “like a firm of bent solicitors”) is goofy in a Blackadderish way. And Peter De Jersey goes to town on French philosopher Voltaire playing him as Shrek’s Puss in Boots by way of ’Allo ’Allo.

Their court intrigue – all behind-the-hand whispers, elaborate bows and fake flattery – is aided considerably by Robert Jones’s sumptuous period costumes and stately sets in director Trevor Nunn’s easy-on-the-eye drama.

Curiously, and despite the title, music plays second fiddle here, with the cast miming unconvincingly at the harpsichord. But that is perhaps indicative of the production as a whole. Nearly, but not quite.

DEEPSTARIA

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“unique, mysterious, dreamlike, ethereal and challenging”

DEEPSTARIA

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 27th February 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Ravi Deepres

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DEEPSTARIA

DEEPSTARIA

DEEPSTARIA

THE SCORE

Theatre Royal Haymarket

★★★1/2

“Cox, booming yet nuanced, is at a canter to reach the next cutting quip”

THE SCORE

Theatre Royal Haymarket

Reviewed on 27th February 2025

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE SCORE

THE SCORE

THE SCORE