The annual Critics’ Circle Award recognizes lifetime achievement in one of the art forms – film, dance, music and drama - covered by the Circle. After receiving the award, which comes in the form of a glass bowl, Bennett gave a speech during which he thanked his hosts and identified himself as his harshest critic. After the proceedings, many of the critics asked Bennett for his autograph.
While the National Theatre production of Bennett’s latest stage play, The History Boys, is about to open at New York’s Broadhurst Theatre on April 24, Bennett’s The Old Country, written in 1977, plays London’s Trafalgar Studios in an English Touring Theatre production starring Timothy West.