In its current incarnation at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Georg Büchner’s classic play Woyzeck has the bonus of two heavyweight composers: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The pair has composed new songs for the production, which has been both praised and criticised for its madcap interpretation of the script.

Rolling Stone USA, presumably having attended Woyzeck in Brooklyn, reports the Cave and Ellis contributions “sound like they could have been outtakes from Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!: dark, churning rock tunes sometimes broken up by tender ballads and tongue-in-cheek goofs”. The production – which includes such set pieces as a giant water tank for the actors to swim in and more trapeze work than your average circus – was described by the New York Times as “playful but utterly inane.”

Proving the man really doesn’t do downtime, Nick Cave is heading straight into a string of theatre shows in England and Scotland over November. Then, of course, he returns home in the New Year to curate the premiere season of All Tomorrow’s Parties Australia.