Review: Hymn, Almeida Theatre - brotherly love, eulogies and symbolic savings
20/02/2021
The 'Chekhov's gun' in Lolita Chakrabati's Hymn is £10,000 in savings. When it gets mentioned early on, the warning light started flashing in my mind.
It belongs to Benny (Danny Sapani), hard-earned and put by bit by bit over the years. But it is a victim of the story rather than the driver of the narrative.
Benny has recently found out his father is - or was - a local businessman and turns up at his funeral, where he meets his half-brother Gil (Adrian Lester).
The narrative quickly strides forward to when a strong bond has formed; they share a love of music and, in particular, the music of their youth.
There is a celebratory feel to their friendship - helped by some serious dancing and cool 80s beats - as if making up for the decades of missed shared experiences.
But Benny and Gil's relationship contrasts with that between Gil and their father.
Truthful eulogies
Two eulogies bookend the play. The first is revealed to be not quite truthful in how it represents a relationship while the other we'll never know if it was or not. And that made it a slightly problematic device for me.
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