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It is Christmas
1183 in King Henry II of England's palace in Chinon, France. Henry is
discussing with his mistress, Alais, the upcoming day's events. Henry's
family will be gathering for the holiday—his wife Eleanor, whom Henry
has let out of prison for the occasion, and their three sons, Richard,
Geoffrey, and John. Of course, much of the conversation and thought
will center around Henry's successor to the throne. Henry makes it
clear that he wants the youngest son, John, to be the next king, while
Eleanor wants the oldest, Richard. Henry has also promised the young
Prince of France, Philip, that Alais, Philip's sister, will marry
Richard but he also promises Alais she can remain his mistress.
In
another room the three sons are already gibing about who will be king,
soon joined by their mother, and then by Henry and Alais. Henry then
turns the discussion to the matter on everyone's mind: "Well—what shall
we hang? The holly or each other?" Richard insists that he become king
because he is the oldest and the most capable. John is sure he will
inherit the throne because he is his father's choice. And Geoffrey, the
middle son, feels unappreciated, with no chance at all of the throne.
Then the sons and Alais depart, leaving Henry and Eleanor alone.
 Much
of the remainder of the play is filled with the duplicitous
machinations of the various members of the family. At various times
Henry courts each son, hoping to advance his agenda through lies and
manipulation. Eleanor does the same. At times it is difficult to tell
who wants what and what is the truth. The three sons do the same thing,
pairing up with each other in various combinations, hoping to get the
help of the others. John and Geoffrey at one point even plan a war,
with King Philip's help, to overthrow the plans of Richard and Eleanor
and take the kingdom from Henry. At another juncture, Henry insists
that Eleanor sign papers giving the Aquitaine, a valuable piece of land
in France, to John, virtually guaranteeing his ascension to the throne.
Eleanor, however, rebuffs his requests, and the two, once again, are at
a stalemate. At one time, even Geoffrey tries to make an alliance with
Philip, in his own grab for the throne.
Finally,
Henry concocts one final scheme. He has his three sons locked in the
wine cellar and plans to send Eleanor back to prison. Then he will go
to Rome, force the pope to annul their wedding, and marry Alais. She
can then give him more sons, including a new king. Alais says, however,
she can't marry him if the sons are left alive and a danger to her in
the future; but Henry refuses to kill his offspring. Eleanor takes
daggers to the boys in the dungeon, urging them to run, perhaps killing
their father. However, they can't act either, unwilling to harm their
father.
In the end, everything is as
it was in the beginning. Eleanor is headed back to prison, the three
princes are still squabbling over who shall be king, Alais is caught in
the middle, and Henry still has no clear successor.
Synopsis courtesy of
www.bard.org
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