Review: 'Allelujah' by Alan Bennett

by Daniel Hill

Alan Bennett’s new play premiered at the Bridge Theatre. Allelujah had a cast of 22 actors and is directed Nicholas Hytner, choreography from Arlene Phillips and design by Bob Crowley. A well-written comedy, complete with truly sentimental moments and characters which allow the audience to get invested in the play. The naturalistic set and direction within a NHS hospital possibly allowed this play to become as close to real life as possible.

Based in a Geriatric Ward in a hospital which recently been threatened with the possibility of closure. However, it seems down to both the workers and patients to keep the hospital operational. We are invited to take a glimpse of the hospital’s day to day operations as they have asked an external filmers to help create a documentary in order to save the Beth but this ends up making the problems explicit. The acting was of a high class allowing for this situation to become reality. The cast was filled with people who seemed relatable, familiar, evil and funny with Bennett choosing to prove he knows how to write a play. This is possibly necessary after the recent staging of his first work Forty Years On at Chichester Festival Theatre. The direction of the piece was not solely reliant on the comedic aspect of the piece even though this was key. Hytner was able to establish the tenderness of the script and relationships between characters that enabled Bennett’s work to be seamlessly transferred to the stage. The injection of music throughout kept the piece alive and provided an excitement as the elderly patient would erupt into choral song.

The acting was also very strong. Particularly I thought that Sacha Dhawan stood out in the role of Dr Valentine even though I don’t believe the role was written well by Bennett. Deborah Findlay was also very strong in her slightly inconspicuous role of Sister Gilchrist. These two actors worked quite well together on stage which helped with the whole play. Findlay also worked very well with Jeff Rawle playing the elderly patient Joe. There moments on stage together often provided the juxtaposition of emotion that made this piece what it was. The acting overall was very strong and this also goes for the dancing. Arlene Phillip’s energetic choreography helped brighten some of the darker moments of this piece and provided it with some of the chutzpah it embraced and used.

Although I thought the script was well written and Bennett was able to capture comedy whilst including moving scenes, as mentioned above, I thought there was one moment in particular that let it down. In the final monologue of the play, we see Dr Valentine in a plea to the audience and commenting on the English public and outlook from the point of view of someone who was not English. I felt this political message suggesting that we should not be proud of our nationality was an unnecessary addition to the play. It made the political connotations of the play too raw and turned this from a dark comedy into much more of a political statement. However, this was only a small point of criticism from a good play.

Alan Bennett’s dark comedic edge was kept going through this play and made it a good play. The injection of music gave the cast a chance to brighten up the controversial subject matter of the play and made their lives seem more joyous than they really were. It was definitely worth a watch. One of the best things about this experience was the fact that we were seeing a new play within a relatively new theatre, proving that this country still values this art form highly. Something which I think is necessary for the modern age.