Will someone please find a home for Prince William Little Theatre?
The 20-year-old company has been performing in local school gymnasiums and auditoriums of late, moving from school to school and merely scraping by with inadequate facilities. Unable to properly light its productions, or to create much in the way of meaningful scenic design, the troupe is operating at the lowest level of technical standards for community theater in the Washington area -- lower, in fact, than one sees in many high school productions.
That PWLT is capable of good work is evidenced by its stellar production of "Children of Eden," a sprawling operatic musical it performed in a large church last year, and this season's "Steel Magnolias," a poignant comedy it staged on a gym floor with a top-notch cast.
The troupe's current production, "The Lion in Winter," suffers from the usual limitations, which reduce stagecraft to the barest essentials. The lighting is primitive and the one-dimensional set is cheesy. But with its adequate acting, this is a serviceable rendition of James Goldman's 1966 study of dynastic scheming, manipulation and passions set in a medieval castle of England's Henry II.
Henry enjoys wielding power, but at 50, which was old age in 1183, he sees the end looming. Even though he has three ambitious sons, he wants to settle on a sole successor to ensure that his empire will not be divided upon his death.
Soon the princes, the Queen whom Henry keeps imprisoned, his young mistress and her even younger brother, the 17-year-old King of France, are all making and breaking alliances, swearing allegiances and dissolving loyalties. Goldman's sharply crafted dialogue is written in an unusual style that combines contemporary speech with strains of a lightly Shakespearean-flavored, poetic sensibility.
Goldman never resolves the matter of succession here; you can check your history books for that. But it's the journey we enjoy, not the destination. The character studies, brilliant oratory and the scheming worthy of a prime-time soap opera can be completely absorbing.
Director Zina T. Bleck has chosen to emphasize a light tone rather than delve too deeply into the bitterness at the heart of the dysfunctional family relationships. The whimsy is underscored by use between scenes of what sounds like a synthesized flute strongly resembling a circus calliope; it accents the sarcastic, mocking tone that can be found in the wordplay.
The actors employ colloquial, informal styles of speaking. Herb Tax portrays Henry as an old lion whose roar bespeaks bluster more than power, while Richard, his oldest son and the Queen's choice for the crown, is played as a dull-witted boor, rather than the usual ruthless conniver, by Harry Kantrovich. For his sole heir, Henry prefers John, the youngest, played for laughs by Jesse Sampogna as an impatient, androgynous adolescent, rather than the usual irritable thug. Doug Nelson seems fully in character as calculating middle son Geoffrey: cool, cerebral and dangerous in one of the production's two most vibrant performances.
After a low-energy start during an opening weekend performance, Janet Devine Smith blossomed in the second act as Eleanor of Aquitaine, the formidable woman who was queen not just of England, but of France, too. Too bad Henry has her locked up in a remote castle most of the time for unpleasant plotting, letting her out to join the squabbling family for Christmas.
During the long scene that opens the second half of the play, Smith plays lioness to Tax's lion, regal in her confinement and still wielding considerable influence. As Henry and Eleanor battle each other with words both caustic and charming, she gives the dialogue its full bite, her carefully displayed conflicting emotions of old love and new hate exposing the basis for the turmoil and keeping the play from mere parody. With Smith's powerful performance, perhaps "The Lioness in Winter" is a more appropriate title.
"The Lion in Winter," performed by Prince William Little Theatre, continues through April 2 at R.C. Haydon Elementary School, 9075 Park Ave., Manassas. Performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with a matinee this Sunday only at 3 p.m. For tickets or information, call 703-330-7796 or go to www.pwlt.org.
