Word: lions
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...ALWAYS a pleasure to see what a theater company, professional or otherwise, does with a play which arguably cannot be lone wrong. Such a play, at least on the surface, is Lion in Winter, James Goldman's sparklingly written drama of the savage political and emotional infightings of a family of dazzling twelfth-century English monarchs. It would take a heavy directorial hand, indeed, to dull the brilliant salvos of dialogue that flash from member to member of the illustrious Plantagenets--Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the future Richard Lionheart. Geoffrey Monmouth, and King John--as they vie for control...
...dialogue rarely drops below this level of snap in Lion in Winter; its showers of sparks keep the production moving through more than two hours of miraculously complex family machinations. Henry, aging at 50 and increasingly anxious about England's future under his three bickering sona, wants to give everything to John, the youngest and least appealing of the brood. Eleanor, his Queen, who in youth divorced the King of France for a tempestuous marriage with Henry, has aged too and embittered; all she has left is determination to thwart Henry's choice, whatever desire of his she can detect...
These characters are brilliant. Their passion and cleverness never flag, and they make Lion an astounding play to watch--and probably to read as well. And the able crew of Dunster House dramatists rises admirably to the challenge of getting through the many, many, many such exchanges, and navigates the audience through a brisk but shattering evening of theater. Most impressive, perhaps, is their success in giving some degree of movement and unity to what could be just an endless succession of one-liners. For all the characters actually accomplish, Lion could plausibly begin or end at any scene change...
...homey set is adorned with serious weapons and a portrait of the "hero." Scene changes occur lethargically, as the audience must unnecessarily wait in dark silence as it watches the characters move stealthily around on stage The sound effects--like the doorbell whose ring sounds like a lion's roar--are awkward and off synch, causing the actors as well as the audience to wait for them to conclude before continuing...
Theatre Double Bill "The Lion in Winter" at Dunster House and "A Man for All Seasons" at Mather House are offering discount double tickets available at IICTO and at the door of each show...