Can an unlikely duo find harmony in ‘The Orchestra’?

Jeppe is the orchestra’s new manager, Bo is a long-suffering musician. They are very unlikely allies – until they discover they have a mutual enemy in the first clarinetist.

'The Orchestra' Credit: SAM Productions

Two men, brought together despite their many differences to battle a common foe: what could be more inspiring? But when the two men are Bo Hoxenhave (Frederik Cilius Jørgensen) and Jeppe Nygren (Rasmus Bruun), “inspiring” might not be the best choice of words.

They’re both employees at the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Jeppe is the new deputy director; Bo is a musician. Their workplace is a swarm of conflicting ambitions, clashing egos, and crumbling careers. It’s a place where everyone is looking out for their own interests; it’s a wonder how they stand each other long enough to put on a performance.

Through its eight episodes, Danish comedy-dramaThe Orchestra keeps returning to the twists and turns of workplace culture in the wake of #metoo, as musicians and management alike use new standards to help them fight old battles. There’s a lot of sharp satirical jabs here, but the real comedic energy comes from the clash – and sometimes, alliance - between these two mis-matched characters.

Bo is a skilled clarinet player, with talent to spare. He’s probably the best musician in the orchestra, and yet he’s been relegated – unfairly, in his eyes – to the position of second clarinet. He’s been denied career advancement and solo opportunities, despite his obvious ability, for one simple reason: nobody likes him.

Frederik Cilius Jørgensen as Bo. Credit: SAM Productions / Asmund Sollihogda

They have a point. He’s condescending and sarcastic in conversation with others. He has a temper he rarely bothers to keep in check. Not only does he see himself as better than those around him, he sees himself as better than the times he lives in, dressing like a man twice his age and constantly wishing he was living half a century or more ago. His circle of friends is more like a full stop, and as for the opposite sex? Better not to ask.

Jørgensen plays Bo with an often surprisingly light comedic touch considering how blunt the clarinet player can be. He shows real relish when delivering Bo’s snarky dialogue, while often undercutting his overt meanness by letting his inner dork shine through – he’s the kind of character so convinced he’s always right that he doesn’t realise how often he’s doing it wrong. Even his tragic love-life (he’s drawn to women who don’t want him, while ignoring the ones that do) is more embarrassing than depressing.

Rasmus Bruun as Jeppe. Credit: SAM Productions / Asmund Sollihogda

Jeppe is his opposite. Bo doesn’t care what people think: Jeppe is obsessed by it. He’s the new deputy manager of the Orchestra, and it’s hard to imagine a worse fit for the job. Despite being qualified on paper, he has no feel for how to manage the fragile egos of the musicians around him, and the one area he is good at – coming up with management double-speak – just slides right off those he’s supposedly managing.

Bruun has the tougher job here, playing the kind of nervous, spineless office caricature that could easily become painful to watch. But Bruun, who came to fame in Denmark for hosting an extremely popular satirical radio program, has excellent comedy chemistry with Jørgensen. Which is handy, because while their characters are different in just about every way, one thing comes to unite them: their dislike of the Orchestra’s first clarinet, Simon (Caspar Phillipson)

Simon (Caspar Phillipson). Credit: SAM Productions / Asmund Sollihogda

Bo doesn’t like Simon because… well, Bo doesn’t really like anyone. But having Simon take a position he sees as being rightly his doesn’t help. Matters take a more serious turn when Simon overhears a conversation between Bo and cellist Anastacia (May Simón Lifschitz) in which Bo makes a somewhat tasteless comment. Anastacia shrugs it off: Simon won’t let it go, and makes a formal complaint.

Jeppe is already struggling with his ruthless boss Gertrud (Lise Baastrup) when the dispute lands in his lap. Putting such a spineless character in charge of a sensitive workplace matter like this is a recipe for disaster whichever way you look at it, but Jeppe soon finds himself approaching things from an angle no-one suspected. Jeppe’s home life with his lawyer wife Regitze (Neel Rønholt) hasn’t been good for a while; now she’s having an affair… with Simon.

Jeppe and Bo find they have common ground. Credit: SAM Productions / Asmund Sollihogda

Nothing is ever straightforward in The Orchestra, and the road to revenge is long for both Bo and Jeppe. But as the pair learn to work together – or just side by side – through all their personal dramas and professional mishaps, could this be the start of a beautiful friendship?

Let’s go with “probably not”.

Ten-part series 'The Orchestra' is streaming now at SBS On Demand.