A couple of things worth getting out of the way straight away: Alan Bennett's latest play is his best since
The History Boys. Not necessarily the biggest compliment considering the reception to
The Habit of Art and especially
People, but if
Allelujah! isn't the 84-year-old's best-ever work* it certainly doesn't disappoint. The second thing that needs saying is that underneath a hugely entertaining surface this is an unapologetically angry, political play. For all that AB has a reputation as a cosy, cuddly National Treasure who doesn't like being called a National Treasure, his work has always had this sharpness - the quintessential Englishness† of his work always tempered with anger and frustration at what he sees eroding his idea of what makes the country worth celebrating. In
Allelujah! that anger is never not tangibly bubbling under the comedy and tragedy of his epic hospital story.
