Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley Will Lead The Lion in Winter in London

Confirming earlier reports, Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley will play a pair of warring royals in James Goodman’s The Lion in Winter. Trevor Nunn will direct the piece, which will begin performances on November 4, 2011 and open on November 8 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Lindsay, an Olivier Award winner for Becket, Oliver! and My and My Girl, for which he also won a Tony Award, will star as British king Henry II. Lumley, a Tony nominee for her recent turn in La Bete, will play his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Additional casting has yet to be announced.

The Lion in Winter, set amidst the politcal maneuverings at the French court of Henry II in Christmas of 1183, first 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.
The Lion in Winter will run through January 28, 2012.