Hymn – Almeida Theatre, London

A review of Lolita Chakrabarti’s new play Hymn, streamed live from the Almeida. Devastating and brilliant, it had me totally captivated.

Hymn at the Almeida – A Play About Love

Hymn is not a traditional love story. It follows Gilbert (Adrian Lester) and Benny (Danny Sapani) over the course of about a year, as a change in their lives brings them together. There’s family stuff going on, and internal struggles. But at its heart it is about the platonic love these two men have for each other. Hymn is new writing by Lolita Chakrabarti, an actor and playwright who won several awards, including for her adaptation of The Life of Pi in 2019. As an aside, Chakrabarti is also married to Lester, which must have made the social distancing for rehearsals slightly easier.

As well as love, Hymn is an exploration of masculinity. Gil and Benny get to know each other through activities like boxing. We see one character working hard to let his guard down and be vulnerable. And can consider whether, in the end, it’s better to have a father around to disappoint, or not have one at all. It’s also a story of the black male experience in contemporary Britain. This does not exist particularly overtly in the play, but rather as an ever-present backdrop. A stranger perceives Gil as aggressive in a run of the mill encounter. They make reference to other racism they have experienced. The dynamics and narrative we see in the play could resonate with a wider experience of immigrant families. But Chakrabarti ties us back to a specific here and now.

Lester and Sapani play these characters, through all the plot twists and subtexts, to perfection. I had high expectations of Lester of course – when does he not get rave reviews for his theatre work? Sapani I knew primarily from television; the power and nuance of his on-stage performance blew me away. The two of them together had such great chemistry. It’s a very emotional play yet contains joyous moments, and even some well-integrated musical numbers. Lester and Sapani moved seamlessly between scenes, and were a joy to watch.

I don’t want to give away too much more of the plot, so let’s move on to the experience of watching Hymn from home!

To Live-Stream Or Not To Live-Stream

Those of you who are regular blog readers will have noticed the dearth of reviews of online content. This is deliberate – I restarted the blog as a way to articulate the experience of going to cultural venues as they reopened in 2020, and this first hand experience is what I value. I’ve made a few forays into watching recorded and live-streamed plays, exhibitions and talks, but haven’t found much that has really satisfied that cultural itch. In fact, I’ve only previously reviewed one streamed theatre performance – A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic.

However, Hymn came pretty close to ticking all the boxes for me. Yes, I did have to turn up the volume once or twice due to traffic noise. Or remind myself that Lester and Sapani were really in the Almeida right now and it wasn’t just on TV. But impeccable filming added to the experience rather than detracted. I could really immerse myself in what I was seeing. I recall comparing A Christmas Carol to a Zoom call at times – lots of split screens and close-ups to differentiate it from a fixed camera recording. Hymn didn’t have any of that.

There were lots of cameras and angles, close-ups and wider angle shots. But they were incredibly slick, and also showed me enough of the theatre for me to feel it was a theatrical performance. I actually think it helped them reduce the scene changes and keep the action flowing. Need to get a prop offstage? Just zoom into a close-up for a while and have someone go grab it!

A Top-Notch Team All Round

The staging and lighting (by Miriam Buether and Prema Metha respectively) were also on point. Like when I saw Nine Lessons and Carols at the Almeida in December, the set was very simple: a long raised stage in the middle with a piano and simple props. The lighting was used to good effect in moments of heightened tension, and also in the one scene change where the camera panned out and back. Everything added to the experience rather than detracted, which is a sign of great skill.

So yes, I still miss live theatre (so much!). But I am immensely glad that the Almeida put on an extra final show so that I could get tickets to Hymn. The other bonus to watching from home: when a play moves you to tears you can sniffle away to your heart’s content. No surreptitious wiping away of tears for me! The Almeida have said they have ‘news’ coming up this week about Hymn. I hope it’s either more dates, or even an in-person run later in the year. If it is, please beg, steal or borrow a ticket! [Edit: it looks like their news is limited availability to watch a recorded version. More info here].

Salterton Arts Review’s Rating: 4.5/5

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