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National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art

8.0 145 mins Drama   Comedy   2010
National Theatre  
Director(s): Robin Lough Nicholas Hytner

Release Date: 22 Thu, Apr 2010

National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings, and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. 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 25 years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s 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. One of the first five episodes also released on terrestrial TV on a 2009 BBC TV series titled "National Theatre Live".

Casts of National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art

Richard Griffiths

as Fitz / W. H. Auden

Alex Jennings

as Henry / Benjamin Britten

Stephen Wight

as Tim / Stuart

Philip Childs

as Brian

Elliot Levey

as Neil

John Heffernan

as George

Barbara Kirby

as Joan

Laurence Belcher

as Young Boy

Adrian Scarborough

as Donald / Humphrey Carpenter

Tom Attwood

as Tom

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