Meeting of two geniuses - as imagined by a third

The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Nov 6 - 10.

The creative spirit of the late Benjamin Britten is enjoying something of a comeback in Coventry, the city where his War Requiem was first performed in 1962 for the official opening of the “new” cathedral – the building where it is to be performed again on November 14, shortly after the fictional Britten pops up at the Belgrade alongside a fictional WH Auden. So we can look forward to a meeting between a great British poet and a great British composer, as imagined by a great British playwright.

Alan Bennett wrote The Habit of Art for the National Theatre in 2009. But it’s set in Auden’s Oxford college rooms in 1972 and features a rent boy, a play within a play and plenty of ribald humour as well as more typically Bennett-esque dry and understated wit. With a cast headed by Matthew Kelly and David Yelland, it promises to be an exploration of life, death, sexuality and everything else. Just another night or five in the forthcoming City of Culture.

For tickets go to: http://www.belgrade.co.uk