Lora Adams, Kassidy Holdridge, Matt Walsh, Jeremy Mahr, and Tyler Henning in The Lion in Winter
Chicagoan James Goldman wrote some 20 plays, screenplays, and novels. His younger brother William was both more prolific and more famous, especially for his screen adaptations of All the President′s Men, Misery, and his own book The Princess Bride, among others. However, James was no slouch.
The Lion in Winter, his best-known work, opened on Broadway in 1966, starring Robert Preston as King Henry II. (I would′ve loved to have seen that.) Though the play didn′t do well initially, a popular film adaptation followed in 1968 with Peter O′Toole and an Oscar-winning Katharine Hepburn, and a 2003 TV movie starred Patrick Stewart. Now, the play is considered a classic, and its current area production, directed by Noah Hill for Moline′s Black Box Theatre, is an enthralling, often hilarious feast, with the fine cast of seven doing full justice to the clever script.
Goldman's play is based loosely on events (and rumors) from the life of Henry II, who reigned England for 35 years. On this Christmas of 1183, we meet him, his three sons, his frenemy King Philip II of France, and Henry′s mistress Alais, a woman less than half his age who is engaged to his son (which son is undecided as yet) and is also Philip′s half-sister, who was raised by Henry′s wife, Queen Eleanor, whom Henry has kept imprisoned for 10 years for plotting his death with their sons.
Wait, what?
And you thought the Windsors were depraved. With snarky quips and shady insults swarming in numbers to rival a modern sitcom′s, this royally effed-up, scheming, weirdly entangled family moves nimbly from love to despair to jealousy to hate to lust as if obeying some cosmic Twister spinner. Prizes include the crown, Henry′s love and approval, Alais herself, land, freedom, and the banana stand. Whoops, nope; that last one is from Arrested Development.
Director Hill's The Lion in Winter, which I saw on Friday′s opening night, has a genuine all-star cast – I'm a fan of every one of these folks. As Henry, Jeremy Mahr is sublime, as I′d expected he would be considering his abundant experience in historical English plays. I was struck by his air of calm confidence; real kings don′t sweep around grandly and shout – they know they′re in command. (Okay; he does a teensy bit of shouting.) Although he usually spoke at a conversational level, Mahr's diction was excellent, and I understood every word. He alone, in this cast, does not use an English accent, which for this American audience humanizes him and sets him up as an Everyman – er, Everyking.
Jacob Lund, often seen on Genesius Guild′s stage, is marvelous as the perpetually petulant youngest son John. His tantrums are a hoot, though I did feel sad for him when Lucy/Henry kept snatching away the football/crown. Another accomplished actor, Tyler Henning, plays Geoffrey, the put-upon and overlooked middle child, with a particularly smooth, convincing accent and a good helping of bitterness. Veteran performer Matt Walsh portrays eldest son Richard with a seething cocky-bastard glee, eventually revealing another side of his psyche, which affected me deeply. Portraying Philip, the delightful Thayne Lamb, conversely, is a cold, smug reprobate; a proto-Bond villain, but just as fun to watch.
Always wonderful on stage, Kassidy Holdridge plays Alais, Henry′s current plaything, who agonizes while he decides to either keep her or pass her to one of his sons. I do wish she′d been given more to do than stare dejectedly at the floor fighting tears; I longed to see Alais hurl something, or perform some other wild act of frustration and defiance. The Black Box′s co-founder Lora Adams is cool perfection as Eleanor of Aquitaine – formerly queen of France, she calmly slings a cutting remark, dispenses a soupçon of wisdom, and reveals something deeply sad; sometimes all in the same breath. I′ve seen Adams play beleaguered French royalty on this stage before (Marie Antoinette in 2022′s The Revolutionists), and although neither her Eleanor nor her Marie are innocent, they are both quintessential queens.
Adams also designed the exquisite costumes and simple, ingenious set. Four gray columns, high-relief wall sculptures, a gap for a removable fireplace with glowing embers – these basic elements, along with the setting or striking of a few bits of furniture, a tapestry, and a curtain, handily become different rooms of the modest castle. There was, however, one initially puzzling set piece. Was it Chekhov or Buck Owens who wrote, “If there is a bale of hay onstage in the first act, it must be used to feed a cow or facilitate a hoedown in the second act”? It was used as a lounging spot at one point … but why hay? I looked it up later. Turns out it′s fodder – livestock were often kept inside castles, as imminent food or to protect them from marauders.
The Black Box's The Lion in Winter is more than just a gem – it′s a crown jewel. Carve out a couple of hours in your schedule to experience it.
The Lion in Winter runs at the Black Box Theatre (1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL) through December 6, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
