Four Nights in Knaresborough

Four Nights in Knaresborough
Written by	Paul Webb
Date premiered	November 1999
Original language	English
Subject	The aftermath of the murder of Thomas Beckett
Genre	Historical fiction
Setting	Knaresborough Castle, 1171

Four Nights in Knaresborough is a play written by Paul Corcoran (now known as Paul Webb) and first performed at the Tricycle Theatre, London in 1999. It recounts the aftermath of the murder of Thomas Becket by four knights making "the worst career choice in history". Despite being an historical drama, the play uses modern language, including an abundance of profanity and slang.

A film version of the play, scripted by Webb and titled Four Knights is to be produced by The Weinstein Company, directed by Paul McGuigan.

Set in 1171, Four Nights in Knaresborough opens in Canterbury Cathedral where four knights, Brito, Fitz, Morville, and Traci come to arrest Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, rather than arresting him, Becket is killed by Fitz. The knights then flee to Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire where they ensconce themselves for a year to avoid the wrath of the public and the Pope.

Over the course of four evenings, in January, March, September and December, the play portrays the gradual decline of the knights, showing their repressed desires, fears and misgivings. Emphasising clashes of personalities, the play glosses over the deeper political and historical consequences of the murder.

Of the four knights, Morville is the one most upset by his excommunication and isolation and argues that Becket had to die as he was opposing the progressive reforms of King Henry II. He even claims that Henry is playing a careful political game but is really on the knights' side.

Brito is not an aristocrat like the other knights, but is rather a "new man" who joined the others less out of conviction than of opportunism. As the most active and the youngest of the four knights, his imprisonment is a kind of rite of passage and he grows through the play. Brito is also rampantly heterosexual and, despite a mutual attraction between himself and Traci, he chases Catherine and ultimately martyrs himself for her when she succumbs to a fatal disease circulating the village of Knaresborough.

Traci is the most complex character in the play. Guilt-ridden like Morville, he is also in love with Brito. In the past he has had a relationship with the fourth knight, the aristocratic Fitz, but is now very much alone.

While the knights wait out their time in the castle, Catherine keeps the villagers at bay by assuring them that her tenants are seeking penance through a constant cycle of fasting and prayer. Ultimately, she is tried as a witch by water.

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