St. Anne Comes Home – St Paul’s Church Covent Garden

St. Anne Comes Home at St Paul’s Church Covent Garden, London

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Part of the Iris Theatre Summer Festival in the garden of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, St. Anne Comes Home has a refreshing warmth and humility for these troubled times.

Jack Miles’ book, music and lyrics (he also leads the band from guitar) take us to a world of very ordinary people reaching out to each other in South London.

James (Jordan Castle) is homeless and out of contact with his former partner and daughter. On Sundays he camps at St. Anne’s Church because he’s attracted by the bells and peace.

The priest, Russell (Mathew Craig) wants to welcome James but is thwarted by some of his congregation so there are implicit reflections on what Christianity really means.

Bridget (Rebecca McKinnis), meanwhile, is a parishioner whose husband has a drink problem against which background she is trying to raise a child. She empathises with, and befriends, James.

All the back stories and angst are presented through Miles’ folksy songs which are all very melodic and, often, toe-tappingly rhythmic as well as powerful and moving. The variety of moods is nicely done too. And director, Martha Geelan makes sure that the storytelling is crystal clear.

All three cast members sing beautifully – mostly from three distanced mics in a row. There’s a strong duet, for example, between James and Bridget in which his pain is expressed in a repeated slow scale while she punctuates with comments and questions rising to a tense climax as they disagree.

I also admired a moment when James’ anguish is reinforced by a quivering violin motiv played by Claudia Fuller under an awning with Ben Jones who plays double bass, both in jazz style and orchestrally with bow.

This new musical, which has been a year in the making, has a refreshing reality about it. It’s the first true musical I’ve seen since March and it’s a testament to what can be achieved even with the static-ness of social distancing although it was extremely cold outdoors on the evening I saw it. This way of working won’t do for much longer if autumn is coming early.

Susan Elkin