Productions

5 STARS - DAILY TELEGRAPH

'I thought it unlikely that he would be able to equal the success of The History Boys but The Habit of Art is another absolute cracker, often wonderfully and sometimes filthily funny, but also deeply and unexpectedly moving.'

'I can think of few plays that combine wild laughter, deep emotion and technical ingenuity with such bravura. The Habit of Art is a smash hit if ever I saw one.'

‘Somehow Richard Griffiths makes you care about Auden’s frailty and dried up talent while also playing an actor who can’t remember his lines and hates the awy Auden is presented.’

'With extraordinary pananche, Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner, keep us equally interested in both the rehearsal process and the portrait of Auden and Britten.'
'Alex Jennings is superb… Frances De La Tour, as the stage manager and Adrian Scarborough as the biographer Humphrey Carpenter, give performances of comic perfection.'

5 STARS - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Alan Bennett’s immaculate new play-within-a-play has the audience bawling with laughter throughout.

This sad, funny, whimsical piece about age and fading dreams is immaculately executed and represents the National at its very best.’

5 STARS - INDEPENDENT

'Bennett the maestro returns with a multi-layered masterpiece.'

‘Richard Griffiths is superlative.’

'His hotly anticipated and hilariously provocative new play, The Habit of Art.'

'The play mixes hard-won wisdom with a rollicking irreverence and recklessness.'

'A cracking production that flirtatiously keeps the audience up to speed with the outrageous amount of information and allusion.'

INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

‘Hugely entertaining drama… ingeniously teasing and entertaining… a great late play.

It is an irresistibly droll and critical rumination on artistic principles, the craft of biography, public reputations and private lives, competitiveness and self-censorship… hugely enjoyable.’

5 STARS - DAILY EXPRESS

'A brilliantly written and delicate duel of mutual wariness.'

‘His (Richard Griffiths) take on Auden reveals depths and an understanding of the poet’s complex character.’

'The ever-excellent Richard Griffiths is Fitz, the actor who plays the world-weary Auden. Griffiths handles the roles with skilful aplomb… Alex Jennings plays actor Henry who, in turn is a prim, even prissy Benjamin Britten. Knees pressed together, he presents a portrait of a fussy, even pedantic Britten. Together the two actors display considerable comic touches and timing with Bennett’s clever wordplay Frances De La Tour produces a strong and often hilarious performance.'

5 STARS - SUNDAY EXPRESS

‘The veteran playwright offers a wise and deeply moving distillation of a life spent in the service of the arts with this compassionate, often brilliantly funny, account of the fallible people who create it.

It is gorgeously propelled by revealing performances all round.’

5 STARS - MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘A new play by Alan Bennett is a dramatic treat like nothing else. It’s like sipping champagne in a big armchair beside a crackling fire…

The glorious quality of the writing – brimming with humanity and humour – and Nicholas Hytner’s flawless production carry you along in a wave of pleasure.’

4 STARS - THE GUARDIAN

'Alan Bennett has written another play with his characteristic mixture of wit and wistfulness.'

‘Beautifully acted… (Richard Griffiths) becomes a vivid metaphor for the poet.’

'A superbly fluid production by Nicholas Hytner is beautifully acted… a deeply moving play.'

'Bennett’s poignant paean to power of the artist.'

OBSERVER

'Alan Bennett’s fictionalised encounter between two giants of the 20th-century culture is full of ideas – and great jokes… a gloriously sustained, constantly shifting piece of irony…Both Griffiths and Jennings are terrific.

A tsunami of jokes, a tidal wave of argumentative statements, a gorgeous gust of opinion.’

4 STARS - SUNDAY TIMES

'A richly thought-provoking piece… deft, amusing and so intelligently and generously crafted that it makes you feel clever just watching it.

Nicholas Hytner’s direction is a perfect match for Bennett’s charm, and the performances are a treat.

THE TIMES

'An intricate, funny, discursive new play... There are funny lines galore.'

METRO

'Richard Griffiths is spellbinding.'