- Becket
Infobox Play
name = Becket
(Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu )
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writer =Jean Anouilh
characters = Thomas à Becket
King Henry II
King Louis VII
Cardinal Zambelli
Pope Alexander III
Bishop Folliot
Brother John
Empress Matilda
Eleanor of Aquitaine
setting = Twelfth century Europe
premiere =October 3 ,1960
place =St. James Theatre
orig_lang = French
subject =
genre =
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ibdb_id = 2256"Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu (Becket or The Honor of God)" is a
Tony Award -winning play written in French byJean Anouilh . It is a depiction of the conflict betweenThomas Becket and KingHenry II of England leading to Becket's murder in1170 , but contains many historical inaccuracies, which the author acknowledged.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. He did so, 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 historically incorrect in certain important aspects. 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.
ynopsis
The play is a re-enactment 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. Becket begins as a clever, but hedonistic, companion; as a result of being created Archbishop of Canterbury, he is transformed into an ascetic who does his best to preserve the rights of the church against the king's power.
Ultimately, Becket is slaughtered by several of the king's nobles, and the king is then forced to undergo penance for the murder.
tage productions
The play was first performed at the Théâtre Montparnasse Gaston Baty in
Paris on8 October 1959 and on Broadway in 1960. [cite web | author= | title=Becket, or the Honor of God | url=http://www.enotes.com/becket | work=E-notes | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-06-17]Broadway
[
Laurence Olivier andAnthony Quinn in the Broadway production of "Becket" at the St James Theatre (1960)] The original Broadway production premiered on5 October 1960 at theSt. James Theatre in a production byDavid Merrick , directed byPeter Glenville and starringLaurence Olivier as Thomas Becket andAnthony Quinn as King Henry II. The production was nominated for fiveTony Awards and won four, including Best Play. The play later transferred to theRoyale Theatre and then to theHudson Theatre . An erroneous story arose in later years that during the run, Quinn and Olivier switched roles and Quinn played Becket to Olivier's King. In fact, Quinn left the production for a film, never having played Becket, and director Glenville suggested a road tour with Olivier as Henry. Olivier happily acceded andArthur Kennedy took on the role of Becket for the tour and brief return to Broadway, with Olivier playing Henry. [cite news | author=Time writers | title=Henry the Second | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874346,00.html | work=Time Magazine | date=7 April 1961 | accessdate=2008-06-17] [cite book | last=Spoto | first=Donald | title=Laurence Olivier: A Biography | location=New York | publisher=HarperCollins | year=1992 | pages=pp. 360-368 | isbn=0060183152 ]According to
John Cottrell 's biography of Laurence Olivier, however, Anthony Quinn was dismayed and angry when he read that Olivier was getting better reviews for his performance as Henry than Quinn had gotten, claiming that he would never have left the production if he had known that was going to happen. Even so, it was Quinn who was nominated for aTony Award for his performance, while Olivier was overlooked.London productions
The first
London production was at theAldwych Theatre on11 July 1961 , directed by Peter Hall for theRoyal Shakespeare Company .Eric Porter played Becket andChristopher Plummer the King, withGwen Ffrangcon-Davies ,Peter Jeffrey ,Diana Rigg ,Ian Holm andRoy Dotrice in the cast. The play later transferred to the Globe Theatre. Plummer won theEvening Standard Award for his performance after taking over the part fromPeter O'Toole , who broke his contract with the RSC before rehearsals began in order to take the lead inDavid Lean 's film "Lawrence of Arabia.The play was revived in a new
translation byFrederic Raphael andStephen Raphael in October 1991 at theHaymarket Theatre withDerek Jacobi as Becket and Robert Lindsay as the King and again in October 2004 withDougray Scott andJasper Britton . The original English translation for the 1961 version (byLucienne Hill ) was revived at the Southwark Playhouse in September 2001 withRupert Degas andColin Salmon .Film adaptation
In 1964 the play was made into a successful film, starring
Peter O'Toole andRichard Burton withJohn Gielgud ,Donald Wolfit andMartita Hunt . Additional scenes were written byEdward Anhalt for the film. Anhalt won an Academy Award for his screenplay.References
External links
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