Curtmantle

London: Oxford University Press.. Very Good/Very Good. 1961. First Edition. Hard Cover. 12mo Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Black cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership inscription. x, 99 pages clean and tight. In Curtmantle, his first historical play, Christopher Fry covers almost all the years of Henry the Second's reign (1154-Ii8q), exploring his character, both as a ruler and a man, as well as the more often told story of his conflict with Thomas Becket. The central characters of Henry, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Thomas are deeply seen personalities moving at times easily, at times painfully, within the confines of their titles and responsibilities. The clashes and tensions between them sound and echo moral and social problems from which no period, nor man, is ever free. In the Foreword Mr. Fry says: `The play has two themes: one a progression towards a portrait of Henry, a search for his reality, moving through versions of "Where is the King?" to the unresolved close of "He was dead when they came to him". The other theme is Law, or rather the interplay of different laws: civil, canon, moral, aesthetic, and the laws of God; and how they belong and do not belong to each other.' .