Screen legend Joan Fontaine starred as Eleanor in a 1979 Vienna's English Theatre (VET) production, whose director Cyril Frankel had helmed Fontaine's 1966 vehicle The Witches (which would prove her cinematic swansong). Headlining an otherwise British cast, Fontaine spent a month rehearsing in London prior to the production's October premiere in Vienna for a projected run into the winter with further European engagements TBA, Fontaine hoping the production would afford her a London stage debut.[2] In fact, after her second performance in Vienna, Fontaine would be sidelined by pneumonia: the actress would recall that the production was resultantly canceled although there are indications of further performances with VET regular Mary Martlew stepping into the role of Eleanor.[3] Fontaine had grown enamored of the role of Eleanor to the point of hoping to headline an American tour leading to a Broadway revival:[4] however Fontaine would only be able to headline two regional theatrical productions of the play, firstly at the Fiesta Dinner Playhouse in San Antonio in May/June 1982 followed by a December 1980/January 1981 production at the Beverly Dinner Playhouse in New Orleans, the latter directed by Eric Berry and featuring Andrew Parks as Geoffrey. Nevertheless, in 2008 Fontaine, then aged 91, would advise Vanity Fair that "Eleanor of Aquitaine...was my all-time favorite role".[5]
James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter played at Court Theatre, Chicago, Illinois from November 3 to December 3, 2024. John Hoogenakker portrayed King Henry II. Rounding out the talented cast were Rebecca Spence, Kenneth La’Ron Hamilton, Brandon Miller, Shane Kenyon, Netta Walker, and Anthony Baldasare.[17]
Characters
Henry II, King of England (Male, 50) – Though aging, Henry is still very nearly as vital as he ever was. His manipulations of family and others are portrayed as spontaneous and emotional as opposed to the well-thought-out stratagems of Eleanor, and the cold, calculating machinations of Geoffrey.
Queen Eleanor (Female, 61) – Eleanor is the wife of Henry and a beautiful woman of hot temperament, and great authority and presence. She has been a queen for nearly 46 years and is thoroughly capable of holding her own in a man's world. She schemes against Henry and loves him intensely at the same time. She has contempt for her children but is not willing to see them harmed.
John (Male, 16) – He is the youngest son of Henry and Eleanor. He is sulky and sullen, with a boyish outlook on his position; many in the play describe him as a spoiled brat. He is described in the play as pimply and smelling of compost. He is Henry's favourite, but also the weakest. He vacillates throughout the play, not out of cleverness, but out of fear and weakness. He is easily tricked and manipulated by Geoffrey.
Geoffrey (Male, 25) – He is a son of Henry and Eleanor, and a man of energy and action. He is attractive, charming and has the strongest intellect of the family; he is also a cold, amoral schemer. His view of himself is of one who yearned greatly for the love of his parents while receiving none. Yet the play leaves open to question whether any of Henry's three sons should be thought to have been truly loved by either Henry or Eleanor, and not merely used by King and Queen as pawns in their ceaseless scheming against one another.
Richard (Male, 26) – The eldest surviving son of Henry and Eleanor, their second son Henry having recently died. Richard is handsome, graceful and impressive and has been a famous soldier since his middle teens. War is his profession and he is good at it. He is easily the strongest and toughest of the three sons/princes. Richard and Philip II have been sexually involved prior to the action of the play. However, Philip declares that he participated in the affair purely for political purposes, whereas Richard indicates he had genuine affection for Philip.[18]
Alais Capet (Female, 23) – She is in love with Henry. Everyone underestimates her intellect and power. She is initially portrayed as innocent, but by the end of the play has begun to acquire a ruthless streak of her own, insisting that Henry imprison his three sons for the rest of their lives in the dungeon.
Philip II, King of France (Male, 18) – He has been King of France for three years. He is not initially as accomplished as Henry in manipulating people, but seems to acquire greater skills at this during the play. He is impressive and handsome without being pretty.
The Lion in Winter is fictional, and none of the dialogue and actions is historical. There was not a Christmas Court at Chinon in 1183, but the events leading up to the story are generally accurate. There is no definitive evidence that Alais was Henry's mistress (although Richard later resisted marrying Alais on the basis of that claim). The real Henry had many mistresses (and several illegitimate children). Eleanor had persuaded their sons to rebel against Henry in 1173, and for her role in the rebellion, she was imprisoned by Henry until his death in 1189. While some historians have theorized that Richard was homosexual, historians remain divided on the question.
A radio parody of The Lion in Winter entitled The Leopard in Autumn by Neil Anthony was originally broadcast in BBC Radio 4 in 2001 and 2002 and re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2011. Broadcast in two series, it starred David Swift as Prince Ludovico, the ambitious and henpecked ruler of Monte Guano (the smallest and most inconsequential city-state in Renaissance Italy), Siân Phillips as his wife Princess Plethora, Graham Crowden as Francesco (Ludovico's perpetually drunken secretary), Saskia Wickham as Countess Rosalie (Ludovico's mistress [with Plethora's full knowledge and approval]), and as Ludovico's perpetually squabbling sons: Nick Romero as the excessively religious Salvatore (whose ambition is to become Pope some day), Paul Bigley as Allesandro (an eternally hopeful would-be artist and inventor) and Christopher Kellen as Guido (a fierce follower of Martin Luther).
The Fox TV drama Empire is explicitly based on The Lion in Winter. It concerns a dysfunctional family that owns a record label named Empire, with all the members scheming and manipulating for power. There are numerous allusions to the play: the family is named Lyon, the father runs an empire while the mother, a very formidable woman, has been imprisoned for many years. Together, they have three sons: a serious, studious, master manipulator son; an intelligent, talented son, who is gay and the mother's favorite but rejected by the father; and a youngest son who is a favorite of the father, but who is spoiled and irresponsible. The recently freed mother schemes with the father and three sons for control of their empire, while at the same time slinging numerous verbal barbs at each other.[19]
^Palmer, R. Barton (2009). "Queering the Lionheart: Richard I in The Lion in Winter on stage and screen". In Kathleen Coyne Kelly & Tison Pugh (ed.). Queer movie medievalisms. Ashgate. p. 58.
