On The O.C. , sexual urges, murderous rages and greedy backstabbing make for exciting storytelling. In the O.C. of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter, the Hedgerow Theatre's craggy walls—built over a century ago as a grist mill, later scarred by fire—make an ideal Old Castle for the play's medieval machinations.

The 1966 dark comedy imagines England's Henry II choosing his successor. As imprisoned Queen Eleanor quips, "It's 1183 and we're all barbarians," their brood gathers to negotiate: sons Richard (remembered as "the Lionhearted" crusader), Geoffrey (not remembered at all) and John (future king, Magna Carta signer), plus young King Philip of France and his sister Alais, long promised to Henry's eldest.

Since the intended Henry III died young, succession is wide open; like King Lear, Henry wants to placate each child—but unlike Lear, he wants his kingdom to remain intact after he's gone.

Goldman pens enough clever lines to add "… and hilarity ensues" to the synopsis, but director Ken Marini wisely avoids playing The Lion in Winter a la Fox, crafting a production that refreshingly plumbs the play's sexual, familial and historical tensions, letting laughs fall where they may.

Gene Terruso's Henry, more bite than roar, plays all his adversaries (that is, everyone) against one another gleefully. Penelope Reed gives Eleanor a French accent and a manic-depressive edge reminiscent of another Shakespearean royal, Lady Macbeth, balancing cynical reflection and haunted regret vividly. John Jezior exposes Richard's Oedipal complexities and Joseph Aniska makes callow young John suitably spoiled, but Alex Hurt reveals little of overlooked Geoffrey. Daniel Robaire plays sexually ambiguous King Philip as a deliciously amoral teen, and Mary Lee Bednarek shines as Henry's beloved mistress who must marry one of his sons.

Marini counters the play's O.C. soap opera plot (just add bikinis) and farcical conventions (who knew castle chambers had so many doors?) with Zoran Kovcic's heavy, multileveled set, Cathie Miglionico's period costumes and Jared Reed's moody, candle-accented lighting and bold music (the requisite generic chanting monks suddenly explode in primal rhythms).

Most important is Marini's respect for, and trust in, Goldman's rich script, allowing Henry and Eleanor's arch dialogue (popularized by Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn in the 1968 film) a rich physicality, making their deep devotion—punctuated by acts of cruelty—more engrossingly tangible and tactile than TV's flickering images.

THE LION IN WINTER Through Feb. 26, Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Rd., Media, Pa., 610-565-4211, www.hedgerowtheatre.org