Full Casting Announced for London Revival of The Lion in Winter, Starring Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley

Casting is complete for director Trevor Nunn’s forthcoming London revival of James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter, featuring previously announced stars Robert Lindsay (Henry II) and Joanna Lumley (Eleanor of Aquitane). The production will begin previews on November 5 at Theatre Royal Haymarket and open on November 15, running through January 28, 2012.

Joining Lindsay and Lumley will be Tom Bateman (Richard), Sonya Cassidy (Alais), Joseph Drake (John), Rory Fleck-Byrne (Philip) and James Norton (Geoffrey).

In A Lion in Winter, a family Christmas becomes a family at war. Henry II, not so young as he was, invites his estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitane and his three sons, Richard, Geoffrey and John, to spend the festive season with him, his mistress Princess Alais, and her brother, the young King Philip of France. Their yuletide celebration turns into a combat zone of deceit, betrayal, bitter power games and scabrous wit as they await Henry’s declaration of his successor.

Goldman’s play bowed on Broadway in 1966 starring Rosemary Harris as Eleanor and Robert Preston as Henry II, along with James Rado, Dennis Cooney and Christopher Walken. A 1968 film adaptation starred Peter O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton and Best Actress Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor. A 1999 Broadway revival, directed by Michael Mayer, starred Laurence Fishburne as Henry and Stockard Channing as Eleanor.

Set and costume designs for Nunn’s West End revival are by Stephen Brimson Lewis, with music by Steven Edis, sound by Paul Groothuis and video design by Ian William Galloway.