To see British theatre on stage in Washington, one may go immediately to the Shakespeare Theatre Company's website and purchase tickets for the outstanding production by Theatre Royal Bath which has crossed the pond, bringing with it the troupe and a royal star who deliver one of the great performances of the season in Washington, D.C., its only U.S. venue.
Sir Trevor Nunn (you do remember his Cats and Les Misérables?) directs.
The star is global winner Brian Cox and the show, The Score by Oliver Cotton, based on a true encounter between Johann Sebastian Bach (Cox) and Frederick II, King of Prussia (Stephen Hagan) in 1747 when the two met in Potsdam.
Certainly, set designer Robert Jones and lighting designer Johanna Town must be students of Vermeer and his window works since they duplicate the painter’s haunting shadows and lighting in the opening scene with Bach and his wife, Anna (Cox's real-life wife, Nicole Ansari-Cox) seated inside their home in Leipzig, complaining about the outside clamor they hear emanating from the king's soldiers whose commotions upset residents. (Sophie Cotton is sound designer.)
Bach is like a fuse waiting to be lit. He’s unhappy, gruff and mad at the world. His daughter (never seen) is ill, yet he must leave her and go visit the king who has summoned him to Potsdam.
Anna pushes her husband out the door.
Like many artists who'd rather be doing most anything else, Bach resists visiting “your highness,” but, alas! The king wants to meet the musical genius.
In conversation, it's not long before Bach (1685 –1750) , the moralist and strict Lutheran, challenges the atheist king (1712-1786) to atone for his soldiers' rape of a blind 14-year-old girl in Leipzig, and the king responds, so what? "These things happen."
Bach is the good; the king, the bad. Bach, morality; the king, unscrupulous, but, maybe, towards the end, scrupulsome?
His father, Frederick William I, the "soldier king," had brought his son up "to be a man," treating him brutally, shunning his son’s interests in the arts and prohibiting Frederick II's pursuit of culture, even beheading II's rumored homosexual lover in front of his son.
Nevertheless, Frederick II became a great musician, a composer and a flutist in his own right.
Hagan's performance was absolutely captivating as king, to see him move around the stage like a stag, the very best of any king I’ve seen, a stunning portrayal of Frederick II, and coming close to riding roughshed over the star.
He is strong, he is arrogant, he is confident as he flings himself upon a chair and extends both arms, his legs, splayed. And when he stands, his arclike posture commands all the personalities around him. But he is the king.
Jamie Wilkes is Bach's subservient son, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, a convincing rendering of an offspring who competes with other court composers (the king’s sycophants, Christopher Staines, Matthew Romain, Toby Webster) utilizing the history of Bach I and the king, to participate in an outrageous bet about his father’s talents.
Voltaire (Peter De Jersey) who lived for a while with Frederick II, declaring him to be "a philosopher-king," and exchanging many letters with him, pops up every now and then in a lusty, comedic presentation to add doses of humor and lighten the score. (The play has lots more humor than anticipated.)
Jones's exceptional sets and costumes match the luxury of von Menzel's painting.
The similarities to today’s American society and leadership leap to mind several times during the play, watching opposites contrast between the main characters, good and evil, and the conflicts between the people and a ruler who cares little about them and their wellbeing.
Other cast members are Juliet Garricks, Will Kerr, Jordan Kilshaw, Claire Morrissey, Max Pink, and Geoffrey Towers.
I can’t recall ever listing a casting director but kudos to Ginny Schiller!
Other artistic team members are Cordelia Monsey, associate director; Theatre Royal Bath Productions, Len Blavatnik, Danny Cohen, producers; Laura Smith, Felix Dunning and Lorna Earl, stage managers.
What: The Source
When: Now through Oct. 25 (extended), 7:30 p.m., Tuesday – Sunday; 2 p.m. every Saturday and some Thursdays and Sundays
Where: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
How much: Tickets start at $39
Duration: About 2.5 hours with one intermission
For more information: Ph. 202.547.1122, 7 days a week, 12–6pm
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