The Habit of Art 2023

Original Theatre (Caroline’s Kitchen, Brits Off Broadway 2019; Invincible, Brits Off Broadway 2017) return to 59E59 Theaters with the US Premiere of The Habit of Art by one of Britain’s most prolific playwrights Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Madness of King George, and Talking Heads).

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.

The Habit of Art looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. Exploring friendship, rivalry, and heartache this multi layered masterpiece examines the joy, pain, and emotional cost of creativity.