quasigeostrophy | "The Lion in Winter" at IRT

Last night's play was fabulous.

computerchix and I had front row seats. We were concerned, at first, that we'd be too close, but it was actually cool, IMHO, to see the goings-on from up there. IRT's main stage is in a fairly small theatre, and the performance felt very intimate.

The actors gave their all - each of them did a marvelous job. Philip and Richard shocked a large portion of the audience, I think, with their huge kiss near the end of the first act, but this is Indianapolis after all. Geoffrey was decidedly manipulative (I need to look up the history - I can't remember what actually happened to him) and John was quite the snotty little evil teen. Eleanor was terrific - reminded me of my childhood standard for conniving, calculating old women: Sian Phillips' portrayal of Livia in the BBC/PBS miniseries of Robert Graves' I, Claudius. However, Henry himself stole the show. I can't remember any of the actors' names, and I don't have my program handy. Henry was awesome, though - he was far and away the most believable.

The play had so many great lines. If I had to pick a favorite, it's one of Henry's: "No sense asking if the air is any good when there's nothing else to breathe." I was totally unfamiliar with the story before we got tickets to this, and I just loved it. I could easily see, by early in the first act, how it is good inspiration for Amber gaming. We caught a portion of the director's prologue before the show, too, and heard him say something about another film or TV version of the story going into production, supposedly with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. That I will have to see...