The story of a wartime community told through the local choral group as they battle to recruit for an upcoming performance in Nicholas Hytner’s historical comedy-drama The Choral, by Alan Bennett.
There is music to be made
by Chris DrewThe Choral
0.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
1916, in the Yorkshire mill-town of Ramsden, we see young postman Lofty (Oliver Briscombe, How to Date Billy Walsh) delivering death notifications and shattering dreams of emotional reunions.
Everyone in the community has either been touched by the tragedy of war, in one way or another, or are facing the possibility of devastating loss.
The town singing group, known as the Choral, provides comfort for the members and, having lost male members, are holding auditions and then discover the musical director has signed up.
Led by Alderman Duxbury (Roger Allam, Tamara Drewe, The Lady in the Van), the committee must recruit a new musical director and are led to the esteemed Dr Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes, Conclave) who is working at a local hotel.
There is much suspicion of Guthrie because of recent time spent in Germany, there is much humour in the reactions to his regular use of German, but the committee are won over by his poetic passion for music.
Taking charge of the Choral, Guthrie runs a tight ship, making even the committee audition. The search for new male singers sees Guthrie and co head to the pub, the bakery and to visit the see the wounded soldiers convalescing.
As a true ensemble piece there a number of interweaving subplots: Clyde (Jacob Dudman, The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die) who returns injured to find his girlfriend has moved on, the local woman known to have sex for money and the pianist Robert (Robert Emms, Borg/McEnroe) pining for Guthrie before choosing to consciously object from service.
Clyde’s reappearance means the Choral has its strongest tenor back and he takes the lead vocal from Duxbury in the revised Elgar arrangement Guthrie has chosen.
There is late drama when Elgar himself (Simon Russell Beale, The Deep Blue Sea, Firebrand) arrives in Ramsden and the Choral are on edge to see if he will give permission for his piece to be performed.
Bennett’s original screenplay injects nice moments of humour throughout: when a stalwart contralto is asked if her husband sings, she responds “He’ll do as he is told”.
Naturally Fiennes leads the cast with great style as Guthrie, looking the part with his beard and waistcoats, his dialogue sounding beautiful.
The majority of the performances from the younger cast members are solid: Allam is entertaining as Duxbury while Beale is wonderfully grand as Elgar when he arrives.
Some of the Choral’s repertoire sounds wonderful while the period costume and production design are to be commended.
The depiction of war is moving, including the contrast of the celebrations as men bravely are sent off to war versus the quiet platform with the smaller number of wounded soldiers returning.
The Chora is a solid entry into the sub-genre of British wartime light dramas alongside films like Their Finest and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The Choral screened as a European Premier at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival on 12, 13 and 17 October 2025. It is released on 7 November 2025 in the UK by Sony Pictures Releasing.
