Ruth Wolff's play, The Abdication, premiered at England's Bristol Old Vic Company in 1971 with Gemma Jones as the Swedish queen. It was later picked up for productions in the U.S., Italy, the Netherlands and Montreal. Although in history, Christina was met by the pope on her arrival and showered with gifts, Wolff fictionalizes the past to have the pope send Azzolino to interview Christina to determine whether she's worthy of such a meeting. This allows the playwright to use their meetings to consider the relationship between women and power in a patriarchal world.
Liv Ullmann and Peter Finch appeared together previously only the year before in Lost Horizon (1973).
The Abdication (1974) was savaged by reviewers upon its initial release. As a result it was a failure at the box office that pretty much put an end to attempts to turn Liv Ullmann into an American star. It has been rarely seen since then, but the few critics who have seen it have spearheaded a re-evaluation of the picture, suggesting its treatment of history and feminist issues was ahead of its time.