In Extremis (play)

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In Extremis: The Story of Abelard & Heloise is a play by Howard Brenton. which premiered at the Globe Theatre on 27th August 2006 with a 15 performance run featuring Oliver Boot as Abelard. The play was directed by John Dove with design by Michael Taylor, and music by William Lyons.

[edit] Plot summary

In twelfth-century Paris, a new spirit of philosophical and religious enquiry is growing. Within its vanguard is Peter Abelard, a man of great learning, independence of mind, and sensuality. When he enters into an affair with his equally brilliant but disastrously connected student Heloise, his more conservative enemies find just the pretext they need to discredit him and in so doing starts a war of ideas. Through the joy and suffering exhibited in this love story set in the middle ages, Howard Brenton explores the relationships between logic and religion, humanism and fundamentalism, and faith and power.