The Lion in Winter
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Review of The Lion in Winter
TimeLine's "Lion in Winter" is theatre of the most delicious variety.
****

reviewed by Jeff Rossen
Gay Chicago
10/7/2003

My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived." So says Henry II, the King of England, in 1183. And why wouldn't he think that? This year's Christmas gathering has the family at odds with one another. Each of the sons wants to be the next king, Henry's wife, Eleanor, wants desperately to find a way to escape the prison life Henry has created for her far away from the castle, and Henry's got a new woman who he wants to marry. As Eleanor says, "What family doesn't have its ups and downs?"

Best known from its rousing 1968 film version that brought Katharine Hepburn an Oscar for her performance as Eleanor, James Goldman's 1966 family drama receives a ferociously staged production at TimeLine Theatre, where the clash of wills and egos in Goldman' script crackles under the controlled and electrified direction of Nick Bowling. Bowling doesn't feel the need to amplify Goldman's text; he simply allows it to play out with a natural ease that brings the decibel level down and allows the great humor Goldman wove into his play to fairly overflow amid the backstabbing and plotting.

Given life by a vibrant ensemble that gets beneath the skins of the characters — and, as a result, each other's as well — the warring royals play out a vicious and vindictive game of chess ("Kings, queens, knights everywhere you look, and I'm the only pawn," Alais, Henry's young mistress, says) that will leave the board wiped clean by game's end.

With David Parkes' weary yet still robust Henry matching wits with Ann Wakefield's devious Eleanor, this THE LION IN WINTER gets its firm core from the flawless performances of these two resourceful actors. And from this center, the trio of sons who would like to be king (Jeff Schmitt, John Luzar and Stephen Rader) draw their inspiration to create diverse and believable portraits that complete the family picture with Schmitt's confused naiveté, Luzar's cool calculation and Rader's menacing malevolence. The sweetness of Corryn Cummins' Alais and Derek Gaspar's manipulative King Philip of France add an alluring counterpart to the family dynamic.

Playing out on Kevin Hagan's linear crossroad setting and given an ominous hue by his atmospheric lighting, THE LION IN WINTER speeds along at a near frantic pace, fitting the desperation of its characters and heightening their uncertainty. Nicole Rene Burchfield's period-mixing costumes suit the characters perfectly, giving them less a timeframe and more personality.

With a restrained sound design and original music by Chris J. Johnson underscoring the action, Timeline's THE LION IN WINTER is theatre of the most delicious variety. (****)