The year is 1657 and an infirm Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, is nearing the end of his life. But who will succeed him? Parliament want him to be king which will unite the people but is against Cromwell's republican principles and will mean his ill-suited son, Richard, succeeds him. But the alternative is a military dictatorship under Cromwell's second-in-command, John Lambert. This elegant, witty play presents a very human portrait of Cromwell.