The Habit of Art

In a rehearsal room of London’s National Theatre, rehearsals quickly fall apart when a play's director is called out of town unexpectedly. The stage manager tries to marshal a run of the play, which follows an imagined meeting between poet W. H. Auden and composer Benjamin Britten a year before Auden’s death. Former friends and collaborators, it has been 25 years since Auden and Britten last met, and the affections and tensions that marked their relationship are still in play. As the actors and author struggle with the edges of memory and discipline, Auden and Britten wrestle with their desires, their jealousies, the ephemeral connection between creativity and inspiration, and the many reasons their friendship fell apart.