CFC Arts presents The Lion in Winter written by James Goldman. The play depicted the personal and political conflicts of King Henry II (David Lowe) his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, (Robin Olson) their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. Eleanor was imprisoned since 1173 but now she was home for the holidays. The gamesmanship between Eleanor and the king was such a delight to watch. Though they were always at odds there was a long standing deep rooted affection between them.
The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, his wife Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard (Chris Fahmie), Geoffrey (Landon St. Gordon), and John (Jake Teixeira), and their Christmas Court guest, the King of France, Philip II (Cole Nesmith). Alais (Ashleigh-Ann Gardner) was Philip’s half-sister, who was at court since she was betrothed to Richard at age eight, but had since become Henry’s mistress. The king had many mistresses and many bastard sons.
King Henry needed an heir and Eleanor favored Richard who seemed the most likely candidate since he was a much a war hawk as his father. He was easily the strongest and toughest of the three sons. Despite this, Henry favored his youngest, rather spoiled son John. All three sons were just pawns in Henry and Elanor’s ceaseless scheming against one another.
Eleanor tended to dominate every scene she was in. She had a fiery temperament, and great authority and presence. Intellectually she seemed to run circles around the domineering Henry. Since all three sons seemed unworthy of being king, the fair Alais rose in the kings eyes as the possible mother of future heirs. Facing the possibility of being queen, she had to make demands and do battle with the tempestuous king. She didn’t seem as much up to the task as Eleanor.
The bottom line is that this play was an absolute delight. Alliances and enemies pivoted on a dime. Battles were as much over family love and acceptance as power and kingdoms.
The final performances are:
Sunday, February 2 – 3:00
Monday, February 3 – 7:30pm (Discount Night)
Tickets are:
$25 Premium Seating (Includes seating in the first 3 rows of the theatre and a complimentary concession item)
$18 Standard Reserved Seatin
$15 Discount Night (All Seats)