Loading Page
National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art(2010)
Status: Released
Date: 2010-04-22
80%
1 Votes
Time: 2h 25m
Overview:
National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings, and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for 25 years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art. One of the first five episodes also released on terrestrial TV on a 2009 BBC TV series titled "National Theatre Live".
Languages: English.
Countries:
United Kingdom
ProductionCompanies: 
Movie: National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art
Top 10 Billed Cast
Richard Griffiths
Fitz / W. H. Auden
Alex Jennings
Henry / Benjamin Britten
Frances de la Tour
Kay
Stephen Wight
Tim / Stuart
Elliot Levey
Neil
John Heffernan
George
Video Trailer National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art
All 1 videos
National Theatre Live 50th Anniversary Encore Screenings: The Habit of Art trailer - Trailer
Recommendations Movies
75%
National Theatre Live: Hamlet(en)
2015-10-15
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
71%
Stage Door(en)
1937-10-08
A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
69%
Educating Rita(en)
1983-06-16
Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to 'discover' herself, so she joins the Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge... and along comes Rita.
64%
Don't Think Twice(en)
2016-07-22
An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.
58%
The Comedy(en)
2012-11-16
Indifferent to the notion of inheriting his father's estate, a restless, aging New Yorker passes time with his friends in games of mock sincerity, irreverence, and recreational cruelty towards those around them.
76%
Feel the Beat(en)
2020-06-19
After failing to make it on Broadway, April returns to her hometown and reluctantly begins training a misfit group of young dancers for a competition.
64%
Sometimes Always Never(en)
2019-03-14
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family.
59%
The Racer(en)
2020-09-09
Summer 1998 - the opening stages of Le Tour de France are relocated to Ireland. Belgian rider Dom Chabol (late 30s) has been one of the best “Domestiques” (support riders) on the Tour for the last 20 years. It’s a sacrificial role – setting pace, blocking wind, and providing support to enable the team’s sprinter to victory - winning is not an option. But Dom secretly harbours a desire to wear the yellow jersey - just once before his career is over. At the start of what will likely be his last Tour, Dom is unceremoniously dropped from the Team he has dedicated his life to. His best mate Sonny, the team masseur, fails to reassure him about his future. But a chance liaison with Lynn, a young Irish doctor, softens the blow, and Dom starts to accept - and even enjoy - the idea of civilian life. But as he gears up to go home and to face his estranged sister, a massive doping error knocks another teammate off the Tour and Dom is thrown back in the saddle…
66%
Mr. Morgan's Last Love(en)
2013-08-22
A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.
81%
Rowan Atkinson Live(en)
1992-03-01
Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton in Boston doing a live performance of the same styles of humor we've seen in Mr. Bean and Blackadder. Included are lessons on Shakespearean acting, a school headmaster meeting with the father of a boy he's beaten to death, and tips for having a successful date.
67%
Best Man Down(en)
2012-10-20
A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.
66%
Vanya on 42nd Street(en)
1994-10-19
An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
69%
The Christmas Shoes(en)
2002-12-01
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
63%
Be Kind Rewind(en)
2008-02-21
A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films.
60%
It Runs in the Family(en)
2003-04-25
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
64%
The Honey Pot(en)
1967-05-21
In Venice, a millionaire hires an actor to help him prank three greedy exes into thinking he's dying and leaving his fortune to one of them.
65%
Hungry Hearts(en)
2015-01-15
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
63%
The Trip to Italy(en)
2014-04-24
Years after their successful restaurant review tour of Northern England, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are commissioned for a new tour in Italy.
68%
Much Ado About Nothing(en)
2013-05-28
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Similar Movies
70%
RSC Live: The Taming of the Shrew(en)
2019-06-05
Live from Stratford-upon-Avon. The Royal Shakespeare Company presents The Taming of the Shrew. Turning Shakespeare’s fierce, energetic comedy of gender and materialism on its head to offer a fresh perspective on its portrayal of hierarchy and power.
95%
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake(en)
2019-05-21
This thrilling, audacious, and witty production is perhaps still best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, which shattered convention, turned tradition upside down and took the dance world by storm. Filmed Live at Sadler's Wells.
76%
National Theatre Live: A Midsummer Night's Dream(en)
2019-06-03
A feuding fairy King and Queen of the forest cross paths with four runaway lovers and a troupe of actors trying to rehearse a play. As their dispute grows, the magical royal couple meddle with mortal lives leading to love triangles, mistaken identities and transformations… with hilarious, but dark consequences.
87%
National Theatre Live: Hansard(en)
2019-11-07
It's a summer's morning in 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years, Diana. But all is not as blissful as it seems. Diana has a stinking hangover, a fox is destroying the garden, and secrets are being dug up all over the place. As the day draws on, what starts as gentle ribbing and the familiar rhythms of marital scrapping quickly turns to blood-sport.
85%
National Theatre Live: Present Laughter(en)
2019-11-28
As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control. Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching.
0%
Hamlet(en)
2016-04-23
A ghostly visitor with a shocking secret, a daughter devastated by loss, a deadly duel – and the most famous question in all of drama. Just some of the reasons why Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy will hold you spellbound.
100%
Private Lives(en)
2013-12-11
Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne are glamorous, rich, reckless…and divorced. Five years later, their love for one another is unexpectedly rekindled when they take adjoining suites of a French hotel while honeymooning with their new spouses. This chance encounter instantly reignites their passion, and they fling themselves headlong into a whirlwind of love and lust once more, without a thought for partners present or turbulences past. This Chichester Festival Theatre production of Noël Coward’s Privates Lives was filmed live at London's Gielgud Theatre.
88%
National Theatre Live: War Horse(en)
2014-02-27
Based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford, War Horse takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France.
100%
Patalliro! Stage Play(ja)
2017-04-28
The first theatrical play adaptation of the popular manga series “Patalliro!”.
0%
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln(en)
1976-09-16
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln depicts the final seventeen years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following her husband's assassination.
0%
The Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute(en)
2023-06-03
The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive.
81%
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street(en)
1982-09-12
In 1846, Anthony Hope sails into London with the mysterious Sweeney Todd, a once-naive barber whose life and marriage was uprooted by a corrupt justice system. Todd confides in Nellie Lovett, the owner of a local meat pie shop, and the two become partners, as Todd swears revenge on those that have wronged him and decides to take up his old profession.
67%
National Theatre Live: Much Ado About Nothing(en)
2022-09-08
Since the 1930s, the legendary family-run Hotel Messina has been visited by artists, celebrities and royalty. When the current owner’s daughter falls for a dashing young soldier, the hallways are ringing with the sound of wedding bells. However, not all the guests are in the mood for love, and a string of deceptions soon surround not only the young couple, but also the steadfastly single Beatrice and Benedick.
0%
National Theatre Live: Death of England: Michael(en)
2020-02-26
After the death of his dad, Michael is powerless and angry. In a state of heartbreak, he confronts the difficult truths about his father's legacy and the country that shaped him. At the funeral, unannounced and unprepared, Michael decides it is time to speak.
0%
National Theatre Live: A Taste of Honey(en)
2014-04-30
When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmie, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas. Art student Geof moves in and assumes the role of a surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.
80%
National Theatre Live: 'Master Harold'... and the boys(en)
2019-11-19
St George's Park Tea Room, Port Elizabeth, 1950. On a long rainy afternoon, employees Sam and Willie practise their steps for the finals of the ballroom dancing championship. Hally arrives from school to hide out in his parents' tea room. These two men have been unlikely best friends to Hally his whole life. But it is apartheid era South Africa: he's Master Harold, and they are the boys. Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard's semi-autobiographical and blistering masterwork explores the nature of friendship, and the ways people are capable of hurting even those they love.
32%
From Here to Eternity(en)
2014-07-03
In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.
0%
National Theatre Live: Dear England(en)
2024-01-25
The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt, to take team and country back to the promised land.