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Dick Reiss portrays Henry II in Weathervane's production of drama 'The Lion in Winter'
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal arts and culture writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
The first time Dick Reiss played Henry II in The Lion in Winter, he was 23 years old and Jimmy Carter was in the White House.
Then, Reiss' age suited him to play one of Henry's three sons rather than the monarch, but he played Henry anyway in the darkly comic piece of historical fiction.
On Wednesday, Reiss, now 51, returns to the part in a Weathervane Community Playhouse production. Once again, he'll be at the head of a bickering family in which each person schemes for power and control.
Reiss' wife has a son who recently started at Ohio State University, and Reiss himself had a foster son. ''I know teenagers,'' he said succinctly in a phone conversation this week.
What's different about playing Henry II this time around?
''My bones creak,'' Reiss (pronounced Reese) said, only half-joking. ''When Richard (one of Henry's sons) says, 'How's your bad leg?' I know what he means. Back then, I was 23. I was invulnerable. Now I know what it feels like.''
The plot of this drama by James Goldman unfolds from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day in the year 1183. The story is set in Henry II's royal court in Chinon, France. Henry has for some time imprisoned his wife, Eleanor, for leading a civil war against him. Eleanor has been released to join the family for Christmas. Joining them along with the couple's three sons, Richard, Geoffrey and John, is Henry's mistress, Alais (played by Amanda Davis).
The matter at hand this holiday is which son should follow Henry on the throne, a topic that causes bitter dispute.
The sparring between Eleanor and Henry has a passion that comes from their earlier, happier days, Reiss said. From reading about these two, Reiss said, he considers them ''probably the two smartest people on the planet. They basically played chess with people.''
They're manipulative, but they do it with such charm that they draw him in, Reiss said.
Reiss' first performance of Lion completed his undergraduate days studying theater while on a wrestling scholarship at the University of Tennessee. (A medical deferment partway through school allowed the budding actor more time to devote to theater.)
This time around, Reiss is in his second year of a master's degree program at Kent State University. He petitioned Kent State to allow him to act off-campus in Lion, using it as one of the three plays needed for his thesis.
The actor prefers to go by Dick rather than Richard. He explained that only his mother and the nuns . . . well, you can guess where he's going with that. It has been a while since Reiss was last a student, and even longer since high school in Parma Heights, when a personality test suggested that this self-described indifferent student's strength lay in the arts.
Back in high school, Reiss said, ''I used to memorize Bill Cosby albums. I thought, this will be good; all actors have to do is memorize lines.''
In 28 years of acting around the country, including shows at Porthouse Theatre, the Players Guild in Canton, the Ohio Shakespeare Festival and Kent/Stark Theatre, Reiss has learned otherwise.
In the Weathervane production, Reiss will perform under the direction of Rohn Thomas along with Dede Klein as Eleanor, Derrick J. Winger (new to Weathervane) as Richard, Scott Shriner as Geoffrey and Andrew Morton (a junior at KSU) as John.
Details
Play: A Lion in Winter
When: Previews at 7:30 tonight, shows at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Oct. 28
Where: Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane, AkronTickets: $14-$20, discounts for students and seniors.
Information: 330-836-2626
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
The first time Dick Reiss played Henry II in The Lion in Winter, he was 23 years old and Jimmy Carter was in the White House.
Get the full article here.
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