The Habit of Art – The Lowry, Salford

Writer: Alan Bennett

Director: Nicholas Hytner

Reviewer: Clare Howdon

The Public Reviews Rating:

‘The Habit of Art’ is currently touring the UK after a successful run at The National Theatre, and playwright Alan Bennett, despite turning 76 this year, shows no signs of slowing down. In actual fact, this latest offering is a far cry from Bennett’s earlier work and is a delightfully multi layered and complex piece.

We are greeted at the beginning of the play by a group of actors ready to rehearse in what we later find out is a backstage studio at the National Theatre. Abandoned for the day by their director, Stage Manager Kay (Selina Cadell) takes the reins and begins the thankless task of guiding the hilariously insecure and self obsessed actors through a run of the play. Joined by the long suffering author Neil (Simon Bubb) the inset drama finally begins; a play which has been penned ‘Caliban’s Day’. It is here that we are introduced to the world of poet W.H. Auden (whose poem ‘The Sea and the Mirror’ inspired Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’) just after he’s returned from New York to retire at his old Oxford College, Christ Church. Auden, a smelly old man with a penchant for urinating in the sink, rent boys and punctual sex is the protagonist of this drama and the play centres around his relationships and dealings with Humphrey Carpenter (Matthew Cottle), a young journalist who later becomes his real-life biographer, Rent-boy Stuart (Luke Norris) and Benjamin Britten (Malcolm Sinclair), a former collaborator of Auden’s who is desperate for his friends companionship in the writing and composing of his new opera ‘Death in Venice’

To call ‘The Habit of Art’ complex is somewhat of an understatement. ‘Caliban’s Day’ is constantly interrupted by prompts and arguments by the on-stage actors agonising about their roles and the author rather unsuccessfully trying to justify his masterpiece. But it is this format that makes the play so refreshing and enjoyable to watch. The cast all give remarkable performances as both their actor and character parts. Desmond Barrit is particularly strong, turning his hand effortlessly between W H Arden and the tetchy actor Fitz who states that he is simply playing a role and killing time until his Tesco advert, whilst at the same time subtly implying that his cantankerous exterior hides the all too common actor’s fear of rejection and failure.

Alongside Nicholas Hytner’s slick direction, Desmond Barrit and Malcolm Sinclair also do a great job of bringing a rather wordy exchange between Auden and Britten to life in Act Two, ensuring an abundance of laughs but also adding a much needed element of poignancy to the proceedings. Sinclair’s portrayal of Britten’s anxiety that ‘Death in Venice’ may be construed as an act of self revelation is particularly effective and also highlights one of the major themes of Bennett’s piece.

It was debatable whether Alan Bennett would ever match the success of the ‘History Boys’ but ‘The Habit of Art’ proves once again that Bennett is a writer of great ambition and daring. The quality of writing, direction and performance makes the ‘play within a play’ format much more than just a theatrical device: the audience cares in equal measure for both the rehearsal process and the portrait of Auden and Britten and it is this which takes the play above just a biographical account of a poet’s life or a satirical look at the acting profession. Instead we invest in the lives that occupy both the rehearsal room and Christ Church College, Oxford and what results is an extremely fulfilling evening of funny and thought-provoking theatre.