Christmas, 1183. The royal court of England gathers—and sharpens its knives.

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King Henry II rules a vast empire, but he cannot rule his own family. His brilliant and formidable wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, has been released from imprisonment for the holiday. Their three ambitious sons circle like wolves, each hungry for the crown. Alliances shift. Affections are bartered. Every word is strategy.

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James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter is a dazzling battle of wits—ferociously funny, dangerously intelligent, and thrillingly theatrical. Beneath the glittering repartee lies something far more primal: a marriage of titans, a dynasty cracking under the weight of ego and inheritance, and children shaped—and scarred—by parents who love them fiercely and imperfectly.

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At The Schoolhouse Theater, this intimate production brings you face-to-face with one of history’s most combustible families. The language crackles. The betrayals sting. The humor lands like a blade wrapped in velvet. What unfolds is both epic and achingly human—a royal struggle that feels startlingly modern.

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This is power at its most seductive and its most savage.

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Brilliant, biting, and unexpectedly moving, The Lion in Winter offers an evening of high-stakes drama where love and rivalry are inseparable—and where the crown is never the only prize.

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Join us for a theatrical event that roars.