The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett at the Old Mill Theatre directed by Anthony Howes.

The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett at the Old Mill Theatre directed by Anthony Howes. Sadly, the remaining performances have been cancelled - which is a shame, as on Saturday night the troupe was rocking it and had a full house. Whilst not a comfortable play to view with its dwelling on not only adult but taboo subjects - (older men in love with young boys being one of them) and its foul language it has some very clever writing and inspired humour. 

What a difficult play this must be to put on. Dene Irvin (Fitz/W.H.Auden) must have a mind of steel to compass the role in this - this is not a flowing play! He's playing Fitz, who's playing W.H.Auden, and with many repeated lines and scenes within scenes and interruptions it must have been hell. But he made it look easy.

Pretty funny the line from him about going back to TV commercials "That's where the real acting is" seeing as Dene himself is coming  back from a long stint on the TV and commercial side of things. 

This play needs a skilled and tireless director, and that's what we had. Anthony Howes must have sweated blood over this.

Justin Freind played Henry/Benjamin Britten and both characters were played fantastically, some of Henry's expressions were just hilarious, and Britten was very sensitively played.

Which brings us to the wonderful Barry Park and his amazing Humphrey Carpenter/Donald. Had to be seen, but I'm still not sure I believe it! Terrific performance, especially with opening of the 2nd act.

Sally Barendse as Kay/Stage Manager had that sympathetic to all but just get them back on with the job after letting actors cry on her shoulder that seems to go with that role, small wonder given her experience with the role in real life.

Paul Bray's pained Assistant Stage Manager encompassed all the weary frustrations that they go through and made us feel it.
 
On the performance we attended we had all three boy sopranos singing for us, just lovely. Brandon Orgill, Matthew Han and Surjo Mazhar Sahid all very confident and sweet voiced.

Cal Silberstein played Tim / Stuart, and his portrayal of someone who's usually sidelined by history and his thoughtful insights from an unexpected quarter were played with great conviction. My favourite characters really.  

Sound and lighting went off excellently - apart from the one lighting bit at the end, but really in the context of the person it was trying to spotlight was actually meaningful in the play's message.

Plays are daring. They take us where movie and tv cannot and they are performed without a net. The element of safety is gone, they can't just go back and do it over because the audience is ~right there~ .

Performing a play of this nature is an act of incredible bravery, and the performance was riveting and deserved its full house and many more performances.
http://www.eventfinda.com.au/2016/the-habit-of-art-wa-premiere/perth