The Original Theatre Company and York Theatre Royal have today announced that Matthew Kelly (W. H. Auden/Fitz) and David Yelland (Benjamin Britten/Henry) will star in the first ever revival of Alan Bennett’s THE HABIT OF ART as part of a nationwide tour later this year.
Directed by Philip Franks, designed by Adrian Linford, and with lighting by Johanna Town, the tour begins on 30 August 2018 at York Theatre Royal.
THE HABIT OF ART explores friendship, rivalry and heartache, the joy, pain and emotional cost of creativity, centering on a fictional meeting between poet W. H. Auden and composer Benjamin Britten. Actors Fitz, Henry, Tim and Donald are rehearsing a play called Caliban’s Day under the direction of stage manager, Kay, and in the presence of the playwright, Neil. In Caliban’s Day, a fictitious meeting occurs in 1973 in Auden’s (Fitz) rooms at Oxford not long before he dies. Britten (Henry) has been auditioning boys nearby for his opera Death in Venice, and arrives unexpectedly – their first meeting in 25 years after falling out over the failure of their opera Paul Bunyan.
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