A youthful take on ‘The Lion in Winter’

James Goldman’s 1966 play “The Lion in Winter” is a familiar title, presenting a long-ago piece of history. But the production of this classic play opening tonight at Multi-Use Community Culture Center includes several firsts.

It’s the first Rochester production of the Ensemble Theatre Company of New York and its director Kevin Shinnick, and it will be the first professional Rochester performance for several members of its youthful cast and crew.

The play is an imaginative take on 12^th-century British history. The “lion” is Henry II, king of England; his wife, who might well be called a lioness, was Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful woman in the world at the time. Her ambition and cunning led Henry to lock her in a dungeon for decades. As the play begins, Henry has temporarily released Eleanor to celebrate Christmas 1183 with their three sons—but is keeping a close watch on all of them.

Goldman’s note for “The Lion in Winter” states, “The facts we have, while clear enough as to … such things as who kills whom and when, say little about the quality and content of those relationships. The people in this play, their characters and passions, while consistent with the facts we have, are fictions.”

The play might be described as a “historical dramedy.” Full of ruthless skirmishes and power plays, “The Lion in Winter”is also as full of witty, nasty lines as a Noel Coward comedy. The resulting combination makes for a very entertaining evening.

“Oddly, ‘The Lion in Winter’ was not originally very successful on Broadway,” says Shinnick.

Its movie adaptation won Goldman an Oscar, however, and the play is often revived.

“It’s as close to a Shakespearian play as we have by an American writer,” says Shinnick. “Goldman captures these historical characters, but with a wonderful sense of humor.” Amid all their political maneuvering, second-guessing, and one-upmanship, the director adds, “they do form a family, and everything they do is also driven by love.”

“The Lion in Winter” has only seven characters, and they’re all demanding acting roles. Henry II and Eleanor were played on Broadway in 1966 by Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris, and by Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in the 1968 movie. The other roles are equally interesting: the three squabbling sons, John, Geoffrey, and Richard (as in “the Lionhearted”); Henry’s 23-year-old mistress Alais; and her half-brother Philip, who is the king of France and at odds with everybody else.

“He’s in the story only when he has to be,” says Parker Ana-Crusis, who plays Philip. “He never lingers. He’s kind of like Dracula”—but she adds that “Philip is also young and naïve and lacks Henry’s experience and wisdom. He wants to learn from him.”

Parker is a first-year student from Chicago studying musical theater at Nazareth University, and “The Lion in Winter” is her professional debut.

 “I performed in high school shows, but I was the only one to take it seriously enough to try to make a career of it,” she says. Parker still takes acting seriously: “I love getting quickly under the surface of a character like Philip, finding more and more challenging moments to bring out.”

Philip’s half-sister Alais is played by Elizabeth DeFisher, who admits she hadn’t acted in 12 years, since she was president of her high school improv club.

She became an accountant, “but I always thought it would be fun and exciting to go back to acting. Finally, I decided, ‘I’m 28, what am I waiting for?’”

So, this winter she is balancing a busy tax season with playing the mistress of a medieval British king.

“In my mind, there’s always the question, ‘Does she really love Henry?’” says DeFisher. “I think Alais eventually realizes that the only way for her to survive is to become as calculating as the others. By the end of the play, she’s a mini-Eleanor, but she realizes that’s a necessary evil.”

“I love the scenes between Elizabeth and Parker,” says Shinnick. “Those two are so good together as brother and sister.”

They’re part of a young company that includes the 17-year-old composer of the play’s incidental music, Flynn Ayers.

“Kevin’s a living history book,” says DeFisher of their director. “He knows everything about the people and the period, before and after this story.”

Audiences often want to know what happened to the characters after Christmas 1183. (Henry, who is 50 in the play, lived to the age of 56, and Eleanor was eventually freed.)

As director of “The Lion in Winter” and the artistic director of TETCNY,  Shinnick is an experienced actor, teacher, and director. The ensemble started in New York with several productions, but when Shinnick recently moved to Rochester, TETCNY did as well.

“It’s fantastic to be back on stage, and in a production that has such a community feel,” he says. “Everybody’s important, everybody gets a chance to shine. Seeing them interact and bring their characters to life reminds me that the root of ‘amateur’ is ‘for the love of.’”

The Ensemble Theatre Company of New York presents James Goldman’s “The Lion in Winter” from Feb. 28 through March 8 at the Multi-Use Community Culture Center, 142 Atlantic Ave.

David Raymond is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.

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