topics: |  drama | french | translation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becket

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.