What’s On catches up with Matthew Kelly as he returns to York in first revival of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art

OLIVIER award-winning actor Matthew Kelly is returning to York Theatre Royal in the first revival of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art.

This marks his second appearance at the theatre in a play by the acclaimed Yorkshire playwright after previously starring in Kafka’s Dick in 2001 alongside his actor son Matthew Rixon.

And it is specially poignant role for Kelly because it sees him follow – once again – in the theatrical footsteps of his late great friend, Richard Griffiths.

"I haven’t actually seen The Habit of Art, but I know it because Richard was the original, actually he took over from Michael Gambon who is the actor I aspire to be, but Richard and I were in college together and I did History Boys at Sheffield. The week he died I started rehearsals for that.

"We’ve always been very close and actually his wife has been lovely about it because I said I hope you don’t mind I keep doing Richard’s parts. She was very kind and said she couldn't think of a worthier successor."

Kelly and David Yelland lead the cast of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, first seen at the National Theatre in 2009. The York production kicks off a UK tour which will include Brighton, Salisbury, Oxford, Guildford, Ipswich, Richmond, Liverpool, Cambridge, Coventry, Salford, Southend and Malvern. .

The play is centred on a fictional meeting between poet W H Auden and composer Benjamin Britten, exploring friendship, rivalry and heartache, the joy, pain and emotional cost of creativity.

Bennett wrote it as a play-within-a-play. Actors 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.

So has it been confusing for Kelly being an actor playing an actor playing a real person?

"No, it actually clarifies things," he says "It’s a very clever device because it means you can be funny about what you do, you can comment on it and you can explain stuff. You can come out of the play which is Caliban’s Day/Death and it’s about the fictional meeting of Auden and Britten. You can explain things which are difficult, when did it become legal to be gay, and why didn’t Auden come back from America when war broke out – because he’d fallen in love with Chester … and if he’d admitted it he would have been thrown into jail. Those are difficult things for people to understand.

"What’s wonderful about Bennett is not only have you got the finest composer of our time and the finest poet of our time but you also in my opinion have the greatest playwright of our time. So you’ve got all those words being sewn together by our greatest playwright who’s kind, accessible, also very erudite and talks about sex in a very earthy way. He also gives a voice to the unregarded, so that people who don’t have a voice – in this case the rent boy who gets the final word – but in many cases it’s the people, like the ancillary care workers, the physiotherapists, like the dental hygenists, the caring of old men, like the massagers of old men as he puts it.

"Generally the great people, the stars of our time, get the final word. And the people who look after them, what are commonly called the little people really don’t get any say at all. They are the forgotten heroes who nurtured these stars."

Kelly’s West End credits include Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellen, Tim Firth’s play Sign of the Times, the musical Lend Me A Tenor! and Lennie in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre, for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor. Other recent theatre includes Pride & Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre & UK Tour), The Jew Of Malta, Volpone and Love’s Sacrifice for the RSC, and Toast (Park Theatre & 59E59 in New York). TV work includes the award-winning thriller Cold Blood, Benidorm and Bleak House, although he is probably best known for presenting hit shows Stars in their Eyes, Game For a Laugh and You Bet!.

David Yelland’s most recent theatre credits include Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall), A Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe), Taken at Midnight (Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket). West End credits include Deathtrap (Garrick), The Deep Blue Sea (Haymarket), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Strand), Richard III (Savoy – for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award), Life x3 (Savoy) and Man and Boy (Duchess). TV credits include the title role in David Copperfield, Nick Rumpole in Rumpole of the Bailey, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, EastEnders, The Crown and Endeavour. Film credits include Coriolanus (directed by Ralph Fiennes), Field Marshal Haig in Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful and the Prince of Wales in Chariots of Fire.

Award-winning director and actor Philip Franks, currently appearing in Witness for the Prosecution at London County Hall, directs this touring revival of The Habit of Art. He has directed shows at the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival and in the West End. He’s well-known for his TV work in The Darling Buds of May, Heartbeat, Bleak House and Martin Chuzzlewit.

The cast also includes Veronica Roberts, perhaps best known for roles in the BBC drama Tenko and ITV’s Peak Practice, as stage manager Kay. Recent theatre credits include The Daughter-in-Law, 49 Donkeys Hanged and Uncle Vanya.

Robert Mountford plays the Author/Neil. His one man show Vagabonds – My Phil Lynott Odyssey has recently played in Edinburgh, London and Dublin. He has just finished House and Garden at the Watermill Theatre and Anita and Me for Birmingham Rep. He has also toured extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

John Wark plays Donald/Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote biographies of both Auden and Britten. His theatre work includes Dead Sheep (UK tour and Park Theatre), Toast (UK tour, 59E59 New York & Park Theatre), The Cocktail Party (The Print Room), Keepers of Infinite Space (Park Theatre), Thark (Park Theatre) and The Fear of Breathing (Finborough Theatre).

Benjamin Chandler plays Tim/Stuart. His previous credits include The Passing of the Third Floor Back (Finborough Theatre) and Three Sisters (The Union Theatre).

After opening in York, The Habit of Art will tour

  • Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, York Theatre Royal, 30 Aug to 8 Sept (not 2 & 3 Sept). Evenings 7.30pm; Matinees Sat 1 & Sat 8 Sept at 2.30pm,Thurs 6 Sept at 2pm. Tickets from £15. Box office 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk