Mood Music review: Ben Chaplin makes this a show worth seeing

1/10
Henry Hitchings3 May 2018

In Joe Penhall ’s new play, swaggering Bernard is a record producer corrupted by success. Hollowed out by cynicism, he’s a chillingly articulate figure, and it’s a peach of a role. Originally intended as a vehicle for Rhys Ifans, who withdrew citing ‘family reasons’ , it now feels as though it was written specifically for his compelling replacement, Ben Chaplin .

Bernard is a sneering, magnetic bully who insists that good songwriting demands detachment. Wickedly droll lines drip from his cruel mouth, and Chaplin savours his ruthless insouciance. In Roger Michell’s production he dominates a massive thrust stage that serves as an ominous image of his cocksure forcefulness.

For Penhall, who created the Netflix series Mindhunter, the character’s sociopathic tendencies are an opportunity to probe the nature of creativity and the psychology of authorship. Bernard has spent time in the recording studio with young Irish musician Cat (a fiery Séana Kerslake), whose talents he seems barely to notice. Their sessions together have led to commercial and critical rewards, but now they’re in dispute over who did what — with Bernard insisting that all the credit should be his.

Their relationship is like an elusive dance. Most of their rancour is expressed through conversations with therapists (Pip Carter and Jemma Redgrave) or lawyers (Kurt Egyiawan and Neil Stuke). There’s a keen awareness here of the toxic compromises that pervade the music business, which Penhall covered in his days as a journalist and has revisited during collaborations with Nick Cave, Ray Davies of The Kinks and The Who’s Pete Townshend.

He writes economically — about power, solitude, rage and responsibility. But the supporting roles don’t have much flesh on their bones, and too often the tensions are narrated rather than dramatised. While the play is strong on mood, there’s no great sense of the music that defines the characters’ lives. At its heart it needs more darkness and visceral conflict, though it’s still worth seeing for Chaplin’s charismatic performance.

Until June 16

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in