Review: ‘Hymn’ at Odyssey Theatre
- Anita W. Harris
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 hours ago
One of the great powers of theatre is that it can evoke entire worlds and lives on a simple wooden stage, and with only a couple of immersed actors.
Such is the case with “Hymn” at the Odyssey Theatre, co-produced with Lower Depth Theatre and written by Lolita Chakrabarti — who also adapted the novel “Life of Pi” for the stage — portraying two English brothers forever changed after first discovering each other at 50.
While the story seems simple, remaining in the recognizable world of the everyday, its depths are profound, especially as directed by Gregg T. Daniel and enacted by two actors embodying their likable but flawed characters — the affable Gil (Chuma Gault) and intense but grounded Benny (Jason Delane).
On a small thrust stage overlooked by a stained-glass window (set design by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, with lighting by Donny Jackson), Gil speaks at his father’s funeral, referencing his three older sisters and how all four saw their dad as stern but protective, having emigrated from Jamaica to England and leveraged his tailoring skills into a successful chain of dry cleaners, allowing the family a measure of affluence.
Meanwhile, Benny, a father of three, has been drinking heavily the night before the funeral and confronts Gil afterward about what his mother — who may suffer from mental health issues — revealed to him about his paternity after seeing the father’s photo and obituary in the paper.
The men’s initial wariness of each other blossoms into warmth over the course of a year. Gil helps Benny navigate his son’s teenage rebellion; Benny teaches Gil to box and agrees to quit his long-standing job to go into a retail partnership selling stationery and clothing.
Both enjoy their own ‘80s dance party (throwback choreography by Toran Xavier Moore, with Gault especially a pleasure to see move) while combing through vinyl records, colorful jackets, gold chains and other items in Benny’s spare room (props well designed by Jenine MacDonald).
By now the audience, too, is enjoying the camaraderie between the men, reveling in their mutual respect and support, happy to see Gil get their business off the ground, but also trepidatious, remembering an initial scene of the two men circling each other warily in masks before the story starts.
Something does indeed happen one winter night as a distraught Gil reveals a devastating yet probably avoidable loss that affects them both, one that taps into both of their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The plot snowballs from there to a bittersweet conclusion at once heartbreaking and transcendently meaningful.
The beauty of Chakrabarti’s writing is in how intricately it celebrates a relationship between two very different men while the play structurally involutes them, in a way rolling one into the other. There is something deeply moving about that kind of human connection, when a sense of completion is found in the other.
Daniel’s intimate and dynamic staging of that story allow us to feel it all the more, even if Delane’s British accent sometimes slides into American, or changing costumes (handsomely designed by Wendell C. Carmichael) can understandably take a minute.
But experiencing these two accomplished actors immersed in their roles as unwitting brothers, sons of a remote father — with occasional references to racism and the distant legacy of sugar plantations — fills the heart and moves the spirit, reminding us of our own vulnerable need for love and belonging.
“Hymn” continues through June 17 at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $35. For tickets and information, call the box office at 310-477-2055 or visit OdysseyTheatre.com or LowerDepth.org. Run time is one hour and 35 minutes with no intermission.