The Score Tickets

Explosive Historical Drama With The Score Tickets

Stage and screen legend Brian Cox brings his “magnificent” (Daily Telegraph) portrayal of Johann Sebastian Bach to the West End in 2025, as acclaimed new play The Score runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Oliver Cotton’s newest work dramatises the moral and cultural clash between Bach and King Frederick II, which ultimately led to the creation of Bach’s famous “Musical Offering”.

Following its acclaimed premiere at Theatre Royal Bath, this “grand production” (Daily Mail) from Olivier Award winner Trevor Nunn (Les Miserables) draws out a towering and must-see performance from Cox.

What is The Score about?

Spring, 1747. Potsdam, Prussia. Composer Johann Sebastian Bach has begrudgingly agreed to meet the fearsome King Frederick II at his court. The two men are poles apart. Bach is a deeply religious, creative man who abhors violence and studies scripture; Frederick is Europe’s most ruthless and ambitious monarch, turned away from God and towards war and terror in his pursuit of power.

Frederick is also amazed by Bach’s creative genius, and he has an idea: a challenge for Bach, amusement for his court. What happens next, however, is something neither man could ever see coming…

The Score is an exhilarating history play that imagines what happened when two titans of the 18th century clashed. It premiered as part of Theatre Royal Bath’s prestigious 2023 season and follows in the footsteps of A View From the Bridge, starring Dominic West, in transferring to London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Brian Cox in The Score

Brian Cox is “a volcanic presence” (The Times) as Bach in this acclaimed new play, following his towering performance in Long Day’s Journey into Night at Wyndham’s Theatre - the first time he acted in the West End for almost a decade. Cox’s larger-than-life presence lends itself perfectly to Bach’s intensely passionate personality.

With two Olivier Awards, an Emmy and a Golden Globe under his belt, Cox is a dynamic and magnetic actor who defined modern water-cooler conversations as Logan Roy in Succession. His other credits include Deadwood, X2 and Nuremberg on screen, but on stage, he really shines, with definitive roles in Rat in the Skull and Titus Andronicus.

Cox is joined in The Score by Nicole Ansari-Cox (Deadwood; Royal Court and Broadway: Rock’n’Roll).

Creative Team

The play is by actor and writer Oliver Cotton, who is best known for his role as Cesare Borgia in BBC’s The Borgias. He has written many plays and film scripts including Daytona and Dessert.

The legendary Trevor Nunn, one of British theatre’s most influential figures, directs. Nunn is the former Artistic Director for both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, with credits including Cats, Birdsong and Porgy and Bess. To millions of theatre fans, he is perhaps most famous as the director behind the original English language production of Les Miserables, which ran for over thirty years in London until 2019.

Book Tickets for The Score at Theatre Royal Haymarket Now

Brian Cox’s formidable charisma meets the creative vision of top theatrical talent in this sumptuous and gripping show. Don’t miss out on tickets for The Score in the West End, playing for a strictly limited season.