Combining keen historical and psychological insight with delicious, mordant wit, James Goldman’s play presents King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine maneuvering against each other to position their favorite son in line for succession. Told in “marvelously articulate language, with humor that bristles and burns”, The Lion in Winter is that rare play that bursts into life from the printed page.

Insecure siblings fighting for their parents’ attention; bickering spouses who can’t stand to be together or apart; adultery and sexual experimentation; even the struggle to balance work and family: These are themes as much at home in our time as they were in the twelfth century. In James Goldman’s classic play The Lion in Winter, domestic turmoil rises to an art form.