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The Lion in Winter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lion in Winter is a 1966 Broadway play by James Goldman. Goldman also adapted the play to a 1968 film directed by Anthony Harvey and a 2003 film by Andrei Konchalovsky.
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The play premiered at the Ambassador Theatre, New York City on 3 March 1966 in a production directed by Noel Willman starring Rosemary Harris as Queen Eleanor and Robert Preston as Henry II. Christopher Walken was also cast as King Philip. The production was nominated for two Tony Awards and won the award for Rosemary Harris as Best Actress. It ran for 92 performances.
The play was revived in March, 1999 at the Criterion Center Stage Right, with Stockard Channing and Lawrence Fishburne in a production directed by Michael Mayer. Channing received a Tony nomination for Best Actress and the play ran for 93 performances.
- Main article, see The Lion in Winter (1968 film)
- A film version was made in 1968 with Peter O'Toole as King Henry II of England and Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine.
The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Peter O'Toole), Best Director (Anthony Harvey), and Best Costume Design. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn), Best Screenplay (James Goldman), and Best Score (John Barry).
- Main article, see The Lion in Winter (2003 film)
- Another film version was made for television in 2003 with Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
The play is set during Christmas 1183 at Henry Plantagenet's château (castle) and primary residence in Chinon, Anjou, part of the Angevin Empire in present-day France. The play opens with the arrival of his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine from prison; the story immediately centres on the conflict and shifting alliances between the estranged couple and their adult sons and heirs to the throne: Prince Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199, the future King Richard I of England 1189-1199), Prince Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, and Prince John (1166-1216, the future King John I of England 1199-1216). Also present in the château and pursuing their own intrigues with the family are King Philip II of France, the son of Eleanor's ex-husband, and Philip II's half-sister Alais, a daughter of Louis VII. Alys was betrothed to Richard I, but is in fact Henry II's mistress. In reality, Henry had many mistresses and many illegitimate children. The "Rosamund" mentioned in the film was Henry II's mistress until she died.
The story is a work of fiction: there was no Christmas Court at Chinon in 1183, although there had been a Christmas court at Caen in 1182 that brought family members together. None of the dialogue or actions is historic; however, the outcomes of the characters and the background of the story are historically accurate. The article on the Revolt of 1173-1174 describes the historical events leading up to the fictional events in the play.