Set in England during the 1600s, 'Cromwell' depicts a world of conflict and survival as the warring of rival ideological factions decimates the opportunities for ordinary people to live ordinary lives. First performed at the Royal Court in August 1973, the form of the play emerged at a time when Storey was enthralled by naturalistic - or poeticised naturalistic writing - a sudden transposition to something approaching free verse reflecting, to a degree, the dilemma explicit in the play itself: how to reconcile humanity's insatiable appetite for destruction with a longing for transcendence and peace.