The Original Theatre Company and York Theatre Royal present the first ever revival of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art directed by Philip Franks and starring the Olivier-award winning Matthew Kelly as W. H. Auden/Fitz and David Yelland as Benjamin Britten/Henry.

The Habit of Art explores friendship, rivalry and heartache, the joy, pain and emotional cost of creativity.

Written as a play-within-a-play - Fitz, Henry, Tim and Donald are rehearsing a play called Caliban's Day under the direction of stage manager, Kay, and in the presence of the playwright, Neil. In Caliban's Day, a fictitious meeting occurs in 1973 in Auden's (Fitz) rooms at Oxford not long before he dies. Britten (Henry) has been auditioning boys nearby for his opera Death in Venice, and arrives unexpectedly – their first meeting in 25 years after falling out over the failure of their opera Paul Bunyan.

Joining Kelly and Yelland in the cast are Veronica Roberts as Kay, best-known perhaps for playing Dorothy Bennett in Tenko, Robert Mountford as the author, Neil; John Wark as Donald, Alexandra Guelff as assistant stage manager George and Benjamin Chandler as Tim.

The Habit of Art will be on stage at Malvern Theatres from Tuesday, November 27 to Saturday, December 1. To book, call the box office on 01684 892277 or visit malvern-theatres.co.uk