Theatre review: The Score

Actor Brian Cox has described J.S. Bach as a "forgotten composer," although given it's only a few years since SSRB played him at the Bridge and now it's Cox's turn in the West End I'd argue London theatre at least remembers him. In Oliver Cotton's The Score, the 62-year-old Bach is respected but largely sidelined in a comparatively lowly position of his own choosing: A very religious man, he composes choral work for all the churches in his adopted home of Leipzig, grumbling his way through the demands for a new piece every week. In recent years the city has suffered the effects of war, as Frederick II's expansionist policies have left behind an army demanding to be housed. Their drills and manoeuvres disrupt everyone at all hours, before we even get to the drunken, violent and dangerous night-time behaviour of the traumatised soldiers.

Theatre review: Uncle Vanya

Mere months since Chekhov's Vanya last graced a London stage he's back, although this time he's brought the rest of the cast with him too. With Trevor Nunn both adapting and directing this version of Uncle Vanya it's not particularly surprising if it's a bit more traditional - Simon Daw's designs definitely take us to late 19th century rural Russia, and you bet there's a samovar in pride of place centre stage. But Nunn isn't just ticking another classic off his list or indulging in a bout of nostalgia, as the Orange Tree production has elements that give it its own personality. Not least of all in tone: One of Chekhov's bleaker plays, it wasn't even questionably billed as a comedy like many of them, but the blurb here calls it a tragicomedy, and that's something it pulls off. The setting is the country estate that once belonged to Vanya's sister, purchased as a dowry for when she married a St Petersburg academic.