WHY was Thomas Becket (1118 to 1170) murdered? What compelled four knights to hack to death the Archbishop of Canterbury in front of the altar in his own cathedral as the Church was still celebrating the great feast of Christmas?

Paul Webb's lively play, dubbed a "historical drama for the Tarantino generation", tries to answer these questions by focusing on the four knights as they spent a year holed up at Knaresborough Castle waiting for King Henry II to decide their fate as Becket's bloody martyrdom sent shockwaves throughout Christendom.

Webb allows his historical imagination to run riot while examining the motives of the knights as they cope with their claustrophobia and the unruly, stress-charged dynamics of their relationships with each other while the mob bays for their blood outside the castle's mighty walls.

Webb's play, replete with strong language, nudity, violence and barbaric medieval dentistry, certainly made an impact at the intimate Frazer Theatre last night where Four Nights In Knaresborough confirmed its status as one of the highlights of feva, the town's Festival of Entertainment and Visual Arts.

Becket, the future saint, is seen kneeling before the altar as members of the audience take their seats amidst clouds of incense and the sounds of Gregorian chants.

Director Mark France pulls no punches depicting Becket's brutal murder by the four knights and has Sir Hugh de Morville (Marc Jessop) make a passionate speech, to the strains of music from Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film version of Henry V, about why Becket had to die.

The ensemble acting of the four knights did crank up the tension, not to mention the testosterone, while the anger, jealousy and violence was punctuated by welcome comic relief.

Jamie Smelt's portrayal of the arrogant Reginald FitzUrse was full of brooding menace, while Christopher Ratcliff also impressed as William de Traci. Drama student Patrick Jeffries, in his first professional role, was up to the challenge of playing Richard le Bret (Brito), a "jumped-up apprentice" striving to hold his own in exalted courtly company.

Lisa Emma Druett showed feminine charm and vulnerability as the wily widow Catherine who cared for the knights, while Anthony James Berowne was bloodied, but unbowed, as Wigmore, one of the victims when two of the knights took it upon themselves to slaughter about 20 Knaresborough townsfolk for plotting against them.

Life was cheap in those days; just ask the poor priest thrown from the castle walls by the knights after officiating at a wedding for one of them.

Four Nights In Knaresborough by Icabod Productions, The Frazer Theatre, Knaresborough. Saturday, August 21, at 7.30pm, and Sunday, August 22, at 2.30pm. Tickets: £7.50 (£5 concessions). Box office 0870 2253382

Updated: 11:49 Monday, August 16, 2004