Tag Archives: Peter De Jersey

THE SCORE

★★★ 1/2

Theatre Royal Haymarket

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.



THE SCORE

Theatre Royal Haymarket

Reviewed on 27th February 2025

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Manuel Harlan

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WAITING FOR GODOT | ★★★★ | September 2024
FARM HALL | ★★★★ | August 2024
HEATHERS | ★★★ | July 2021

THE SCORE

THE SCORE

THE SCORE

THE BOOK OF GRACE

★★★★★

Arcola Theatre

THE BOOK OF GRACE at the Arcola Theatre

★★★★★

“The acting maintains an astounding level of intensity, with tiny looks and touches between the cast changing the atmosphere in an instant”

The electricity was palpable during the finale of this layered and explosive production from the eminent writer Suzan-Lori Parks. Director Femi Elufowoju jr draws out big performances from the cast of three, with haunting staging emphasising the themes of division, secrecy, boundaries, and the green shoots of redemption.

The piece is set on the US-Mexico border, where Vet (Peter De Jersey), a border patrol guard is about to be honoured for his work intercepting migrants. He chooses different terms to describe them, many offensive, and sees the patrol more as a calling than a job. A screen flickers on the wall, live streaming footage of the border.

William Fricker and Rae Smith’s set further feeds into Vet’s obsession with delineating the other. Imposing scaffolding bisects the stage, with a US flag ripped to shreds on barbed wire suspended at the top. There are a palimpsest of hidden pits and nooks that are revealed over time, but covered over to be almost imperceptible on first view.

 

 

Vet’s son, Buddy (Daniel Fancis-Swaby), opts to visit, for the first time in 15 years, apparently to honour his father and attend this ceremony. It is clear (even from the length of absence) that their relationship has been difficult in the past, so it seems like this gesture may go some way to repairing what has been broken. However, currents still run deep, and the return does not have wholly wholesome motivations. He is revealed to be on a vengeance mission, and is on the lookout for three strikes of evidence which frame the piece in a menacing countdown.

Contrasting their disturbances, Grace is a breath of fresh air, often arriving on stage with a song in Ellena Vincent’s rich alto, or through classics played through an old radio set. She collects good-news stories in her Book of Grace which provides the other narrative framing device, setting out chapters, and providing context. Initially this can seem jarring and one dimensional, but Parks’ piece introduces doubt as to their veracity, and the snippets of fantasy, particularly around a story of a dog, grows in significance.

There is so much circularity and detail in the piece, from names, to symbolism of uniforms and clothing, to ritual washing and drenching, and it feels like nothing goes to waste. The acting maintains an astounding level of intensity, with tiny looks and touches between the cast changing the atmosphere in an instant. The closing scenes are so well choreographed by Kemi Durosinmi, that I do not think a single person in the audience took a breath for the final ten minutes.

This is an incredibly accomplished piece of theatre, addressing so many of the themes that are pertinent in the current political environment. The acting, direction and staging are all richly thought through, and absolutely do justice to Parks’ superb material.


THE BOOK OF GRACE at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 20th May 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Alex Brenner

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

LIFE WITH OSCAR | ★★★ | April 2024
WHEN YOU PASS OVER MY TOMB | ★★★★★ | February 2024
SPUTNIK SWEETHEART | ★★★ | October 2023
GENTLEMEN | ★★★★ | October 2023
THE BRIEF LIFE & MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF BORIS III, KING OF BULGARIA | ★★★★★ | September 2023
THE WETSUITMAN | ★★★ | August 2023
UNION | ★★★ | July 2023
DUCK | ★★★★ | June 2023
POSSESSION | ★★★★★ | June 2023
UNDER THE BLACK ROCK | ★★★ | March 2023

THE BOOK OF GRACE

THE BOOK OF GRACE

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