Becket
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the play. For other meanings of "Becket", see Becket (disambiguation).
Becket or the Honor of God is a Tony Award-winning play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's murder in 1170, but contains many historical inaccuracies which the author acknowledged.
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[edit] Background
Anouilh's interpretation of the historical story, though often ironic, is more straightforward than T. S. Eliot's play on the same subject, Murder in the Cathedral, which was intended primarily as a religious treatment. However, there are one or two similarities in the interpretation.
In the Introduction to the play, Anouilh explained that he based it on a chapter of an old book he had bought because its green binding looked good on his shelves. He and his wife read the 30 pages about Thomas Becket, and she urged him to write a play about Thomas, so he did -- knocking out the first part in only 15 days. It was not until he showed the finished play to a friend that he found out the old book he had based it on was totally wrong about the facts. Having built his play on Becket's being a Saxon (when he was actually a Norman whose family was from near Rouen and called "Bequet" in French), Anouilh could not recast the play to accord with historical facts, so he decided to let it stand.
Aspects of the content that can safely be considered true are the conflicts between England and France, church and state, and the outline biography of Becket.
[edit] Synopsis
A reenactment of the conflicts between King Henry II and Thomas Becket as Becket, best friend to Henry II, ascends to power becoming the King’s enemy.
[edit] Stage productions
The play was first performed at the Théâtre Montparnasse Gaston Baty in Paris on 8 October 1959 and on Broadway in 1960.
[edit] Broadway
The original Broadway production premiered on 5 October 1960 at the St. James Theatre in a production by David Merrick, directed by Peter Glenville and starring Laurence Olivier as Thomas Becket and Anthony Quinn as King Henry II. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four, including Best Play. The play later transferred to the Royale Theatre and then to the Hudson Theatre. During the run, Quinn and Olivier switched roles and Quinn played Becket to Olivier's King.
[edit] London productions
The first London production was at the Aldwych Theatre on 11 July 1961, directed by Peter Hall for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Eric Porter played Becket and Christopher Plummer the King, with Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Peter Jeffrey, Diana Rigg, Ian Holm and Roy Dotrice in the cast. The play later transferred to the Globe Theatre.
The play was revived in a new version by Frederic Raphael and Stephen Raphael in October 1991 at the Haymarket Theatre with Derek Jacobi as Becket and Robert Lindsay as the King and again in October 2004 with Dougray Scott and Jasper Britton. The original script for the 1961 version was revived at the Southwark Playhouse in September 2001 with Rupert Degas and Colin Salmon.
[edit] Film adaptation
- Main article, see Becket (film)
In 1963 the play was made into a successful film, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton with John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit and Martita Hunt.
