Arts & Entertainment
Visit from an old friend
Studio’s ‘Habit’ spotlights Auden, Britten; features ‘Queer’ actor Harrison
Actor Randy Harrison, remembered fondly from ‘Queer as Folk,’ is in Studio’s current production, ‘The Habit of Art.’ (Photo courtesy Studio)
‘The Habit of Art’
Through Oct. 23 (extended)
The Studio Theatre
1501 14th St. NW
$35-$69
202-332-3300
With his most recent offering “The Habit of Art” (now making its U.S. premiere at The Studio Theatre), gay British playwright Alan Bennett puts the spotlight on a pair of 20th century gay cultural titans — poet W.H. Auden and composer Benjamin Britten — in the last years of their long and celebrated careers. In doing so, Bennett gives an insider’s glimpse into the mad and maddening world of artistic collaboration and gay sex after 60.
The setting is one that’s familiar to Bennett — London’s National Theatre during rehearsal for a yet-untried play. Things are going badly: The director has been called to Leeds, a couple of cast members are off performing in another show and the playwright is appalled by unapproved script changes. What’s more, Fitz (Ted van Griethuysen), an aging actor cast as an aging Auden, is still struggling with his lines.
Titled “Caliban’s Day,” the play within a play takes place in 1972. It imagines a fictional, late-in-life meeting between former collaborators Auden and Britten. Troubled by his latest project — an operatic adaptation of “Death in Venice,” Thomas Mann’s novella about an older writer in love with a boy — Britten visits his old associate at Oxford where Auden is poet in residence.
What help precisely Britten is seeking from Auden is never made clear, but interesting conversation certainly ensues nonetheless. They speak of their collaboration as young expatriates in New York City, their respective partners and Britten’s interest in young choir boys. And yes, from Auden there’s a lot of talk about penises — not surprising considering his famous poem “The Platonic Blow.” But there’s also talk of artistic survival and the importance of continued, engaging work.
Thrown into the chaotic mix at Auden’s grossly untidy cottage are Humphrey Carpenter, a ubiquitous biographer on hand to interview the artists, and a local rent boy whom Auden has ordered up for a late-afternoon quickie.
Van Griethuysen is marvelous as both the tactless Auden and the testy actor Fitz who plays him. Equally superb is Paxton Whitehead as Fitz’s witty, gay co-star Henry who takes on the role of the more buttoned-down, angsty Britten.
Other standouts in the dozen person cast include two terrific gay actors: Cameron Folmar as Donald, an earnest actor willing to go to great lengths to understand his character; and Randy Harrison (best known from Showtime’s “Queer as Folk”) who plays Tim, an actor who’s happy to doff his boxer briefs to improve a scene, and Tim’s role: the no-nonsense rent boy who resents the glaring absence of sex workers from cultural history.
“The Habit of Art” is an impressively layered work, and because Bennett wrote it, it’s also smart, touching and a teensy bit smutty. A little sense of the history helps, but isn’t necessary. James Noone’s set within a set vividly brings to life the sty that was the notoriously sloppy Auden’s Oxford digs. Director David Muse’s staging is full of energy and wit.
Fortunately for us, Bennett has followed the old adage “write about what you know” (here, perhaps more than ever before).
The 2026 World Pride March was held on Saturday, Aug. 8 in Amsterdam. Tens of thousands of participants marched from Martin Luther Kingpark to the grounds of the Pride Village at Museumplein.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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The weekly drag show “Daddy Issues” was held at Kiki on Wednesday, Aug. 5. Performers included Evry Pleasure, Indiana Bones and Tiara Missou-Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Books
Something’s off about Dad. When is it time to step in?
‘When Memory Fades’ can help when families face dementia
‘When Memory Fades’
By Nathaniel Chin, MD
c.2026, St. Martin’s Essentials
$30/422 pages
Mom called you in a panic the other day.
She’d lost her keys and by the time you arrived to help, she’d found them. In the refrigerator.
These kinds of things keep happening, not often but often enough, and you don’t know quite what to worry about. But in the new book “When Memory Fades” by Nathaniel Chin, MD, you’ll learn about the journey ahead, for both of you.
You can’t remember why you walked into a room. You got lost last week, going to the bank. Popular wisdom says that things like that are normal as we age, but Chin says that’s not true – although the answer may not be a worst-case scenario, either. Yes, memory problems could just be signs of stress, dehydration, or lack of sleep – or is it time to see a doctor?
Chin says maybe, yes.
He was working his way through medical residency when his father, a geriatrician in Madison, Wisc., was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Chin, now a geriatrician, was blindsided, but that diagnosis also changed his life.
Here, he writes about the brain, and how Alzheimer’s and dementia are diagnosed, explaining that dementia has many faces and, depending on a doctor’s evaluation, memory problems might be slowed or improved. He shares his father’s illness with readers, but he also writes about his mother, a steadfast, steady caretaker.
Her story reminds reader-guardians to care for themselves, too.
Know how to talk the talk, so that you can have “a more productive” conversation with your doctor. Understand that there’s nothing “normal” about dementia or Alzheimer’s. Know the statistics – African Americans are affected with dementia twice as much as whites – and know how to lower your risks. Learn here what questions to ask, how to break the news to everyone, and any legal matters that will be important soon. And know how to tend to you.
Says Chin, “The best action you can take is to educate yourself… The more you understand, the better equipped you are to make sound judgments.”
Something’s off about Dad, just a lot of little things that don’t add up. When is it time to step in? “When Memory Fades” can help you decide.
Wise, wide-spread, comprehensive, and compassionately helpful, this is a book you can read and then take it to the doctor with your loved one. It’s a book that makes sense when nothing else does, and its biggest feature is that it smoothly transitions from easy-to-grasp science and charts, to gentle coaching for caregivers. Author Nathaniel Chin, MD writes with storytelling, humility, grace, and experience from both sides of the Alzheimer’s/dementia issue, and his words are reassuring but also urgent. Learn, but don’t wait, he says. Know how to safeguard yourself. See your doctor, and don’t fear testing. Watch for signs of depression. And never, ever stop asking for help.
Read those last seven words, and find “When Memory Fades” now. It’s a book to have on your shelf, whether you’re 45 or 95 because, as you’ll see, dementia happens and knowledge is key.
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