The Habit of Art
Lyttleton; National Theatre, London
Tuesday 3 August 2010
I've not seen very many plays which are set in the theatre in which they are performed. Alan Bennett's latest play depicts a theatre company in rehearsal for a production examining the estranged friendship of the poet W.H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten. The programme notes explain that this is an imagined conversation - Auden despised biography of himself and records of his personal dealings with peers and colleagues have been partly lost. The principle characters of this play-within-the-play - Caliban's Day - are Auden, Britten, Humphrey Carpenter - a journalist and future biographer of the two protagonists - and Stuart, a rent boy who Auden has paid for. The scenes from Caliban's Day which are being run are framed by the fictional company arriving for their day's rehearsal - we later learn this action is set in the National Theatre. As the audience files into the auditorium, the rehearsal room set is visible - the later revealed DSM is on stage making himself a cup of tea. The action begins as the actor playing Carpenter bounds into the room and prepares to deliver a monologue.
Bennett deals with the tensions between various tribes of a theatre company, exposing their collective nuances and weaknesses; the writer is precious over every word he has penned, the director desires sweeping edits to the text to suit his vision, the actors need constant reassurance and praise and the technical crew must deal with all of their colleagues' woes taking far less of the acclaim. The set design emphasises this - the rehearsal room set has a central set which is a mock up of Auden's Oxford lodgings where the action of Caliban's Day takes place. It is constructed of scaffolding and steps to create a higher level where Britten's orchestral rehearsals take place. The lower level has a mock kitchen and a bed on a raise platform creating the general impression of a cramped bedsit. Two pianos are visible - one in Auden's area of the stage and one in Britten's, a common link to tie them both together.
Both in the play and programme notes the idea that the action is an epilogue to The Tempest is discussed. The staging reflects this as the actors performing the Auden play are on an island of their own with the crew members encircling them, watching from the outside. There is animosity for the writer, Neil, who is greeted which much less than enthusiasm - he is an intruder in the rehearsal room, his job is to provide the words and allow the creativity to be injected by the actors and technical crew. When trying to explain his ideas to the company Fitz moans, 'I know the idea and I love the idea', reeking of sarcasm.
The title, "the habit of art", is repeated several times throughout the play. Fitz, the disgruntled actor, says it as Auden but the phrase is later repeated in a discussion between Neil and Kay the stage manager. The writer objects to the whims of the director and actors - 'Why does a play always have to be such a performance?!' he exclaims - but Kay only assures him, 'This is theatre, darling', much to his chagrin, arguing that 'great acting is a toolbox'. She compares actors to soldiers - both are frightened and have a 'fear of failing', a human trait possessed by all of us. In his introduction to the play, Bennett draws attention to the rather tedious elements of Caliban's Day (not his words) which include actors playing the voices of furniture and abstract characters of Auden's Words and Britten's Notes. Bennett's play can be read as a critique of over preparing a performance, layering too many techniques which cheapen the message of the text. Bennett says of Carpenter that he is too important a character to leave out of a story about Auden and Britten but unfortunately he becomes left on the sidelines. This sentiment is echoed by the writer in the play.
The story of Auden and Britten is a vehicle for Bennett to discuss the merits of art and creativity. Fitz as Auden says, 'Poetry is a craft… an art', giving it gravitas. A staunch traditionalist, Fitz is searching for the nobility of Auden, not wishing to focus on the traits of a penchant for urinating in the sink basin and fraternising with rent boys. Fitz adorns a mask to better portray Auden's appearance - the writer argues that he shouldn't play the part as he didn't bear a resemblance to the distinctive lines and drawn features of Auden. The problem with the mask is that it does not allow for suspension of disbelief. The performances of Desmond Barrit as Fitz/Auden and Malcolm Sinclair as Henry/Britten are very convincing as the two cultural behemoths - their relationship is tender, but underlying tensions are evident. As an audience member, it is difficult to be too drawn into their performance as the stage is constantly under a bright wash - the lights of the rehearsal room. In the absence of technical effects, and the incessant interjections and distractions to the performance, Caliban's Day is never in full focus.
As an audience, we see Bennett's Auden as an artist and academic in the wilderness, rejected by society and his friends. There is adoration for him - particularly during his early days as Professor of Poetry at Oxford - but he is isolated, and on this stage he occupies his island. He berates his estranged friendship with Britten who allegedly blames their separation on his work - 'art is never an excuse for cruelty', says Auden - and in compensation for distance from loved ones and New York he seems to have felt most at home, he indulges in paying for sexual encounters and becoming fodder for gossip around the university. To what extent this private impression of Auden is wholly accurate is debatable. What Bennett achieves so well in this play is satirising the theatrical process, laying bare the frailties of individuals and tackling the story of a great literary figure. As ever with Bennett, the play has a comedic edge to enhance much of the bitterness of the characters - who are all particularly well drawn - allowing for a frank examination of theatre, ultimately critiquing self-indulgence and arguing for the importance of the arts in modern society, championing its cause in a time when funding is to be cut and the future is becoming uncertain.
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Carpenter: 'Are you writing?'
Auden: 'Am I dead?'
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