Alan Bennett’s stories often threaten be ‘heart-warming’ and ‘feel-good’, but this impression is quickly dispelled. After a few minutes, our fears are banished by the quality of the writing, the naturalness and wit of the dialogue, and Bennett’s ability to instil the breath of life into his characters. It helps to have a skilful director and an excellent group of actors, and The Choral, which opened this year’s British Film Festival last week in Sydney, meets all these conditions.
Ralph Fiennes leads an impressive cast of old stagers and young up-and-comers in this tale of an amateur Choral Society in Yorkshire, staging a performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, while the First World War looms in the background.
It’s 1916, the venue is Ramsden, a fictional Yorkshire town. The actual filming location was Saltaire, a model Victorian Mill Town built by an industrialist who believed his workers should be properly housed, with access to good health care and education. It’s the positive face of the industrial revolution that brought misery to so many British factory hands.
In this clean, prosperous community, the Mayor, Mr. Duxbury (Roger Allam) is the owner of the Mill and the chief supporter of the Choral Society. Passionate about music, he is also accustomed to singing the tenor solos. The other mainstays are photographer (Mark Addy), and the undertaker (Alun Armstrong). The rest of the chorus is recruited from citizens, old and young, who join up for a variety of reasons. For local lads, Ellis and Lofty (Taylor Uttley and Oliver Briscombe) it’s a chance to meet girls, before being called away to the trenches.