NATIONAL THEATRE, LYTTELTON

South Bank, London, SE1 9PX

THE HABIT OF ART

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Another absolute cracker, often wonderfully and sometimes filthily funny, but also deeply and unexpectedly moving.

Daily Telegraph

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Auden often said that metre and rhyme led him down unexpected paths to thoughts he wouldn’t otherwise have had, and in this respect versification and fornication are not so different.

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.

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.

‘In the end,’ said Auden, ‘art is small beer. The really serious things in life are earning one’s living and loving one’s neighbour.’

Dates

Opening night: 5 November 2009
Closing night: 31 August 2010

Audience

The Habit of Art is suitable for audiences of all ages

Run time

2 hours and 25 minutes including one intermission.

Please note: The term National Theatre, Lyttelton as well as all associated graphics, logos, and/or other tradermarks, tradenames or copyrights are the property of the National Theatre, Lyttelton and are used herein for factual descriptive purposes only. We are in no way associated with or authorized by the National Theatre, Lyttelton and neither that entity nor any of its affiliates have licensed or endorsed us to sell tickets, goods and or services in conjunction with their events.

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