James Goldman's The Lion In Winter about a squabbling Medieval Royal family wasn't a big hit on Broadway but it's been a crowd pleaser at regional theaters for many years. It's continued success with audiences can be attributed to the playwright's way with witty dialogue-- so it should come as no surprise that it includes its share of clever tropes. Here are two that popped out at me when I attended the production now at the Berkshire Theater Group in Stockbridge, Mass.
To illustrate the Royal couples acerbic interchanges, in Henry, himself a flagrant adulterer, accuses his aging wife of doing her share of extra-marital fornication:
I marvel at you: after all these years, still like a democratic drawbridge, going down for everybody. Picking up on the drawbridge metaphor, the Queen wryly replies At my age, there's not much traffic any more.
The queen also comments philosophically about their life: Life, if it's like anything at all, is like an avalanche. To blame the little ball of snow that starts it all, to say it is the cause, is just as true as it is meaningless.
Here's a link to my review of the Berkshire Theater Group's production at its Stockbridge:
www.curtainup.com/lioninwinterberk.html
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