James GoldmanThe Lion in Winter: A Play

"Lion In Winter" is my favorite movie...wanted to read the foundation....brilliant!...most of the text is word-for-word in the movie (1968)...It was nice to be able to catch a line and re-read it to get full meaning instead of backing up the dvd...highly recommend!!!

As ll Good. Transaction-condition-quick shipAnd, of course, the book’s exquisite.

Simply brilliant and illuminating, everyone is by degrees likeable and not, that is they are human. The sheer depth and breadth of human observation and interaction is a marvel , this play is a benchmark of language, please read it and then watch the movie with Peter otoole and Katherine Hepburn . Enjoy the experience.

Goldman's script is stylish, graceful, acutely mindful of that time in history, witty, ironic, melancholy and moves the 'story' of the play forward, taking note of the 'less than equal role' of women in royal history. Goldman knows how to enlist the power of words to do his bidding. His command of language makes reading the play a delight, even without the added power of actors playing their roles. Jim Dunne

This is an excellent play -- a classic -- and well worth the enjoyable read. We have a group that meets monthly to read plays aloud, and it was fun to read this one which so many of us had seen as a movie but few had read as a play. Excellent!

My first clue that this was going to be a bad read was the silly cover of two young apparently nude lovers hugging each other. Since the principal protagonists of the play are 50 year old King Henry II and his 61 year old wife Eleanor of Aquitaine this is just silly and exploitative.But I doubt Goldman was responsible. He is however responsible for this most boring wordy waste of time I have read in quite a while. It is no coincidence that the play only lasted 83 performances on Broadway. Its surprising durability is due to Peter O'Toole's and Kathryn Heburn's performances in the movie of the same name. This movie is word for word the play itself but the acting saves the author's silly portrayal of family disfunction from its otherwise deserved forgeability to something more. Alas, Peter and Kathryn do not inhabit the pages of this dry imaginary retelling of what is probably a totally fictional historical meeting.I bought this play and read it because I had hopes of some intelligent musings on a fascinating period in History. I was greatly disappointed.

So glad I found it on Amazon.

WONDERFUL ! I LOVE THIS STORY, SINCE I AM AN AVID FAN OF ENGLISH HISTORY/ROYALTY. HOWEVER, THE BOOK WAS IN BAD SHAPE, AND I HAD TO BE CAREFUL WHEN TURNING THE PAGES, BECAUSE THE BINDING WAS FRAGILE AND BRITTLE, AND THE PAGES WOULD BREAK WHEN TURNING THEM. IT WAS A GOOD BUY, HOWEVER. HELEN I. LENTI

several hugely quotable passages in this brilliant playeg Eleanor of Aquitaine --Of course he has a knife. He always has a knife. We all have knives. it is eleven eighty-three and we're barbarians. How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we're the origins of war. Not history's forces nor the times nor justice nor the lack of it nor causes nor religions nor ideas nor kinds of government nor any other thing. We are the killers : we breed war. We carry it, like syphilis, inside.

A fine play. The success of this play rests on the text which is high quality. It is written as a dramatic comedy; Eleanor has some great witticisms and Henry has plenty of biting sarcasm. Theirs is a love/hate relationship navigating the political ambitions of their three sons, Richard, Geoffrey and John. Philip, the King of France, has his demands; as does Alais, Henry's mistress! I have seen a production and I remember being enthralled. Read and enjoy.

Really enjoyed it

Just great

A most excellent play and a brilliant film. So many memorable quotations.