The Story of Abelard and Heloise

“Romeo and Juliet with more brains... Brenton peers into medieval mindsets with an unashamedly modern sensibility. Highly recommended.” —Daily Telegraph

“A play for today in medieval costume” —Independent

“A passionate, bracing play of ideas that has topical urgency as well as historical fascination” —Financial Times

A spellbinding new telling of a passionate and legendary love story.

When Abelard begins a wild affair with his brilliant student Heloise, his enemies find the perfect pretext to destroy him. Abelard is already on thin ice with the church over his contentious views and when Heloise bears his child out of wedlock, their affair becomes the scandal of the age…

Previously published as In Extremis, this new version of the play premiered in February 2014, co-produced by English Touring Theatre and the Globe Theatre.

Howard Brenton is a prolific playwright whose plays have been staged at the Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre, RSC and Shakespeare’s Globe among others. Other writing work includes collaborations with David Hare and thirteen episodes of the BBC1 drama series Spooks.