Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Read more …
Alan Bennett’s new play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
The Habit of Art is Alan Bennett’s fifth play for the National Theatre. His last play, The History Boys, opened at the Lyttelton in 2004, toured nationally and internationally, and played for two seasons in the West End and on Broadway. Among its many awards were the Laurence Olivier, Tony and Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, and the South Bank Show Award for Theatre.
It comes across as if Bennett was afraid to commit to anything for long...it also comes acrosss as one big inside joke.
I am just disappointed that a show featuring two major artists, and written by a third, lacked so little relevance.
Another exasperating case of a writer of undeniable ability taking to his theatrical easy chair.
Bennett has created a frank and sometimes filthy affair that manages to be both homage to Auden and Britten and knowingly funny treatise on the state of art, with both states hinting at some personal undertones.
The Habit Of Art represents an outstanding example of how to focus a series of complex themes into a two-and-a-half-hour main-stage play.
National Theatre hit The Habit of Art set for Glasgow Theatre Royal
Stage: Imaginary encounter
Theatre preview: Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art
Keeping it in the family
Theatre Royal, Glasgow from Tuesday November 23, 2010, until Saturday November 27, 2010. More info: www.theambassadors.com/theatreroyalglasgow/
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