It is promoted as a dramatic encounter between God-fearing German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the fearsomely godless Prussian monarch Frederick the Great. But that anticipated head-to-head does not come until the last hour of this uneven new play.
Under the direction of Trevor Nunn, The Score revolves around Bach’s trip from Leipzig to the king’s court in 1747. The first act is an extended prelude, scattered in tone and unsure of its purpose. There is an entertaining modernity in Oliver Cotton’s script, which strains towards the comic as the composer moans that he has to travel more than 1,000 miles to kiss the king’s arse. But it sounds rather too much like Bach by way of Blackadder.
