Popped along for a quick lunch followed by the matinee performance of Alan Bennett’s “Habit of Art” at the Wolsey Theatre yesterday afternoon. Excellently acted by Matthew Kelly and David Yelland as the two principals it is at its sharpest when the two old friends/rivals play a game of chance or luck with the words and music; and the play within a play is both a nice conceit and a sometimes awkward counterpoint to artistic worlds of poet and musician. However, I am perfectly prepared to admit, as a committed advocate of Bennett’s work, that this play was possibly a little too cerebral for my befuddled brain to fully comprehend. Also compromised by Mrs. No Name’s enforced early departure ten minutes from the end whilst feelingly distinctly unwell…however, I think we both got the central point that creating art is a messy old business.
