Alan Bennett’s New Play Begins
The new play of Alan Bennett (pictured) is called “The Habit of Art” and it has begun performances at the National Theatre in London. Writer Tim Adams attended an early preview — the drama concerns poet W. H. Auden and composer Benjamin Britten — and filed this long essay on Bennett. The playwright has fun with the Auden character. At one point, the poet confuses a journalist who shows up at his door with a rent boy: “I’m going to suck you off,” Auden insists. “But I’m from the BBC!” says the startled journalist.
