It has been announced that Nina Raine’s Bach & Sons, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will receive its world premiere at The Bridge Theatre from 23 June-9 September, with Simon Russell Beale in the role of JS Bach. 

Johann Sebastian Bach, irascible and turbulent, writes music of sensuous delight for his aristocratic patrons, and gives voice to his deep religious faith in music for the church. He’s touchy, he’s fabulously rude, he has high standards (he stabs a bassoonist for playing badly) and he’s constantly in trouble with his employers. Music is a family business – both his wives and his children are musicians. His eldest son Wilhelm is brilliant, chaotic and paralysed by his father’s genius. Tense, industrious Carl is less talented than his father but more successful. As the years pass, their gripping family drama provokes furious arguments about love, god and above all music. What is it for – to give pleasure, like a cup of coffee in the sun, or to reveal the divine order that gives life its meaning? Nina Raine’s play is an anthem to the art that draws us together and sings of our common humanity.

The Bridge Theatre has also announced that Flight, a theatre installation by Vox Motus, will reopen the venue, running from 17 May-6 June with audiences sitting individually and given headphones for this intimate experience. 

White Noise by Suzan-Lori Parks’ will run at the venue from 5 October-13 November, with the premiere of Phillip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Bella Sauvage opening in December, with further details to be announced. 

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