<div> This volume of Christopher Fry's original stage work concludes his 'Season Plays' with <I>Venus Observed</I> ('Autumn') and <I>The Dark is Light Enough</I> ('Winter').<BR>In the first of these, commissioned by Laurence Olivier, a confident but ageing duke asks his grown-up son to choose a new wife for him. Written with a superbly light touch, this is a surprisingly reflective play about love, power and forgiveness.<BR><I>The Dark is Light Enough</I>, set during Hungary's revolt against Austria in the 1850s, concerns an imperious, inscrutable aristocrat who seems prepared to sacrifice family and household for the sake of her daughter's scapegrace ex-husband.<BR>Also included is Fry's biographical play about King henry II, <I>Curtmantle</I>. Working with the 'epic' theatrical style of the time and utilising a new, leaner verse language, Fry captures Henry's energy, quick wit and quick temper, his relationship with Thomas Becket - Chancellor and friend, Archbishop and enemy - and his ultimately tragic struggles with his four ambitious sons. </div>