York Theatre Royal – until 8 September 2018
Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
4****
Alan Bennett’s ‘The Habit of Art’ is at the York Theatre Royal. A rehearsal of a show about W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britton, within the play itself. The play explores the character of Auden and how he deals with his poetry, sexuality and age. Through the rehearsal we see the cast braking in and out of the scene and discussing issues they have with the play such as a rent-boy not carrying a bag filled with a towel and lotion. There are various comical elements to the play, Auden’s crude character gives a tongue-in-cheek humour and the cast arguing on the script also lends funny arguments to the show.
Matthew Kelly plays the character of Fitz, a hilarious actor who has a problem learning the lines of Auden’s character. Kelly does a terrific job of creating both the comedy in both characters of Auden and Fitz. John Wark plays Donald, an actor struggling to find the essence of Humphrey Carpenter. Through his persistence of having a monologue in the play and blaming the script for not giving justice to Carpenter, leading up to the point where he dresses up in a dress and plays the trombone and reciting poetry, one of the more farcical moments of the play. Veronica Roberts and Alexandra Guelff play the stage managers and lend their skill into the performance filling in for two minor actors missing from rehearsal, coming on during certain scenes as cleaners, beds and mirrors. The scene with them being household objects reciting poetry is definitely surreal and wacky, needless to say I found it hilarious. The whole cast gave a performance that was both thought provoking and funny.
Throughout the play we learn things about Auden and Britton, that I certainly didn’t know, the look into their lives give a whole new aspect to how I read Auden’s poems. Bennett captures the complex issue of sexuality in the 1930’s and 1970’s, with Auden having no regard to society at the time. The play doesn’t really have a climax or a battle to overcome, rather than the audience watching an everyday rehearsal and the process creating a show. I would say you do have to go into the show with a little bit of knowledge of Auden to understand a lot of the play, however if you go in blindly there is still a lot to appreciate and to laugh at. Although the lack of action, I still found it to be entertaining and insightful.