2 minute read
HYMN
JULY 22 – AUGUST 28
HYMN
By Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Regge Life with "ranney" and Kevin Craig West
This soulful new play by Lolita Chakrabarti OBE examines the subtle intricacies of a complicated friendship between two men, using songs from across many decades to help tell their stories. Two men in their fifties meet at a funeral. One, Gil, knew the deceased well – he plays the piano at the services and delivers the eulogy. The other, Benny, appears to be a stranger and sits quietly at the funeral with a bottle in hand. Benny and Gil soon form a deep bond, and both experience life’s highs and lows. Music helps strengthen their connection, but as they ask themselves and each other what it takes to be a good father, brother, or son, the chords they strike together are not always in harmony. Hymn premiered during lockdown via livestream from London’s Almeida Theatre in 2021. This live production follows Shakespeare & Company’s 2015 production of Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet, for which she won the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2012.
Generously sponsored by Deborah and Bill Ryan.
DIRECTOR’S TAKE
Composing a “take” on a play months before rehearsals begin and the real unpacking starts in the room is not easy. I do this in collaboration with creative minds who are all working toward the same goal – to bring a message to the audience. A message you can think on, which might cause you to unpack a part of your life, and discover your personal anthem. Hymn is about family; about the power of the blood. Brothers in blood, who have not known one another, seek to be brothers in life. During the play, Gil and Benny are like two tuning forks, finding harmony in a single note that slowly builds into the symphony of two separate families becoming The Jones Clan–one big family that “the youngest,” Benny, brings together. The play is also about generations and the challenges children face to do better than their parents; to make their parents look up to them with pride, because they made a life on their own terms. This goal in mind, Benny struggles to be the King of his castle, while Gil, the “baby of the family,” competes with his sisters for a place at the table. Hymn is also about secrets; the secrets that parents withhold from their children, the secrets that could inspire, or that could knock down their children. As parents, we all have secrets; secrets that we dare not let our children know during this lifetime. The pandemic has made us all think more deeply about family and the ties that bind. Life and death these last two years have called us to recognize the power of family and the resources unique to family. We have found new ways to bring family together, and to provide a roadmap for the next generation. As we continue this process, we celebrate our successes, but also come face-to-face with our failures. We witnessed the homage to Ira Aldridge in Lolita Chakrabarti's Red Velvet in 2015, so I invite you to witness the power of Hymn and let it find a tone that resonates with the tuning fork of your soul. — Regge Life
