anyone who has ever worked on an original script will cherish this play by Alan Bennett, who has now been added to my short list of heroes: Mike Nichols, David Simon, Meryl Streep, Horton Foote, Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith. Who do you know that can make Beyond The Fringe, Prick Up Your Ears, Talking Heads, The History Boys and then this one? With recent plays like Red and Circle Mirror Transformation, watching the habit of artists at work can be and should be peeking at our own humanity. Even plays and movies like Noises Off, My Favorite Year and the wonderful Bullets Over Broadway give us this great extra level of actors being actors being the comic pageant that is humanity. Shakespeare's mechanicals rehearsing Pyramus & Thisbe would approve. If the National Theatre does not release The Habit Of Art on DVD for all of us who love dramatic storytelling, then it will be a crime against humanity.