The Habit of Art

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 twenty-five 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 also reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion's spent

And, ultimately, on the habit of art

"In the end, art is small beer. The really serious things in life are earning one's living and loving one's neighbour"