Hymn at National Theatre: Lyttelton Theatre

Hymn is a meditative piece, by turns funny and melancholy, in which Alan Bennett looks at the part which music played in his childhood, at his father's doomed attempts to teach him the violin, and at what hymns mean to him now. George Fenton's illustrative suite for strings, played by the Medici Quartet, tempted out of retirement for this show only, draws on a range of musical reference including Elgar, Delius and several well-known hymns. 'Hymn' is prefaced by Alan Bennett's introduction and voiced by National Theatre actor Alex Jennings.