Plot

Summer 1914. In order to dedicate themselves to a life of study, the King and his friends take an oath to avoid the company of women for three years. No sooner have they made their idealistic pledge than the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting arrive, presenting the men with a severe test of their high-minded resolve.—Royal Shakespeare Company

Shakespeare's sparkling comedy delights in championing and then unraveling an unrealistic vow, and mischievously suggesting that the study of the opposite sex is in fact the highest of all academic endeavors. Only at the end of the play is the merriment curtailed as the lovers agree to submit to a period apart, unaware that the world around them is about to be utterly transformed by the war to end all wars.—Royal Shakespeare Company