National Theatre Live The Habit of Art

National Theatre Lives 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennetts acclaimed play The Habit of Art with Richard Griffiths Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatres 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 twentyfive years they are observed and interrupted by amongst others their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station Alan Bennetts 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 passions spent ultimately on the habit of art