Alan Bennett - The Habit of Art

Alan Bennett came to the London Review Bookshop to talk about his latest play, The Habit of Art, which imagines a meeting between Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera Death in Venice, and his former collaborator and friend, W.H. Auden. As much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music, the play looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, the ethics of biography, creativity and inspiration, growing old, and on persisting when all passion is spent. Alan Bennett read from his introduction to Faber's edition of the play-text, before answering a barrage of questions from the audience about the play, and about his life and work to date.