Collaboration

Ronald Harwood's new companion piece to 'Taking Sides' is harrowing. Here, it transpires that composer Richard Strauss only appeared to toe the Nazi line to protect his Jewish relatives. Themes of loyalty and betrayal centre on Strauss's strained, 15 year relationship with his Jewish librettist, Stefan Zweig. They form a formidable pair: Michael Pennington's Strauss is a fluttering, emotionally quicksilver genius, though David Horovitch's Zweig is more compelling in abject despair than creative angst.