[2] Set in Classical Greece, the play recounts the story of Amyclas, King of Laconia (or Sparta), his daughter Calantha, and their court.
The dance ended, Calantha, now Queen of Sparta, condemns Orgilus for his murder of Ithocles, appoints Nearchos her heir and successor, and dies of a broken heart.
The Broken Heart remained in obscurity for centuries until it was staged by Laurence Olivier for the first modern production of the play at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1962.
The cast included Olivier in the roles of the Prologue and Bassanes, Keith Michell as Ithocles, Rosemary Harris as Penthea, Joan Greenwood as Calantha, John Neville as Orgilus, André Morell as Amyclas, Alan Howard as Nearchos, Robin Phillips as Prophilus, Polly Adams as Christella, and Gene Anderson as Euphrania.
[4] In 2015 the play was mounted at the Shakespeare's Globe's Sam Wanamaker Playhouse with Owen Teale as Bassanes, Luke Thompson as Ithocles, Amy Morgan as Penthea, Sarah MacRae as Calantha, Brian Ferguson as Orgilus, Patrick Godfrey as Amyclus, Tom Stuart as Prophilus, Joe Jameson as Nearchus, Adam Lawrence as both Phulas and Amelus, and Thalissa Teixeira as Euphrania.