A dark comedy of royal proportions can be viewed on stage Friday when the ACTORS studio opens its production of “The Lion in Winter.”

The curtains lift on a Christmas holiday in the year 1183. King Henry II has gathered his royal family and his mistress around him, all of whom are secretly wondering who will get the throne next.

Suspense mounts and the plot twists and turns as bizarre facts about each character’s past are revealed.

Director James Phillips said “The Lion in Winter” is a “sharp and smart, power-acting play.”

The play’s author, James Goldman was a lover of history, but while the play is based on reality, the dialogue comes from Goldman’s imagination.

“Besides being extremely well-written, it is funny, sad, mean, and exciting. And in the middle of it is a subtle love story between Henry and Eleanor [his queen],” Phillips said.

“There’s a lot of really rich subtext; it has good exposition and is not a hard play to follow,” added Jim Coppoc, an ISU grad student who plays Henry’s son Richard.

Tickets may be purchased in person at Big Table Books, 330 Main St., or by phone at 232-8976. They may also purchased online at www.actorsinc.org.