Ken Stack has a gift for playing big roles. He has a voice that can boom, an uncanny skill for making himself seem bulkier than he really is, and a fondness for dramatic intonation. This panache makes him a robust candidate for playing Henry II in James Goldman’s stage comedy “The Lion in Winter.”

And he does it like a champ.

Stack will continue to perform the role, aided by a resplendent cast of six, through Aug. 11 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville.

Goldman’s appealing and zesty script about a feisty Christmas holiday in France with one of England’s dysfunctional royal families is a good match with the crisp directing ability of Stephen McLaughlin. The real charmer is that he keeps the pace fast, an out-and-out necessity if the zingers in Goldman’s comedy are to be felt with a full sting.

McLaughlin understates the humor, mindfully shapes the pathos, and comes up with a production that is dashingly trenchant.

The terrific thing about Goldman’s story, deliberately written in a modern idiom, is that even if you’re indifferent to the history of English kings and their wayward behavior (perhaps you haven’t had the time to read up on them this summer), this play cuts through to the essence of power. Kingly power, it turns out, tries either to skirt or to gore that weighty bundle of inconveniences called emotions.

Never is this more apparent in this production than when Stack’s Henry mentally fences with Kathleen Lake’s Queen Eleanor. Estranged because Henry has jailed his clever wife to keep her from staging pesky wars against him, this couple delights in the lustiness of its vituperative marital skirmishes that occur on occasional visits. This is not about the number of affairs they’ve had (and that’s many) or about the play’s central problem of which son will assume the throne (none is really suitable).

It’s about who has the last word — and about the undying connection they have to each other because of the power, privilege and intellectual warfare they have regally enjoyed. After all, they are, as Eleanor says, jungle creatures.

Eleanor is Lake’s best role to date at Acadia. She’s lithe and mean, as much a roaring lion as is her husband — and with far fewer resources. As Eleanor, Lake exudes elegance and control. When she woos, she does it cunningly. And when she makes deals, you can hear the earth shuddering beneath her smile. Toward the end of the play, in a flailing attempt to break Henry, she spews a massive insult (along the lines of “I slept with your father”) and hurls herself to the floor as Henry, sickened by the thought, storms out of the room. She takes a pause, and with deft nonchalance asks: “Well, what family doesn’t have its ups and downs?”

It’s the type of skewed announcement that, with interspersed tender moments, makes up the backbone of this story. Luckily, the other Acadia players are working at the same pitch — to greater or lesser degrees of success. Alan Gallant, as the eldest son Richard the Lionheart, is graceful, crafty, lethal and, luckily, abandons a deep stage voice for more natural tones — which are truly gratifying to the ear.

Ted Cancila gives a typically agile performance as France’s King Philip, who shows up to settle old debts and to share a bit in the venomous holiday cheer. As Philip, Cancila has a slippery way about him, and spits out every line so as not to give an inch to any of the nearby meanies. His role is a small one, but the hefty performance leaves you wanting more.

As the younger brothers, Doug Rainey (Geoffrey) and Jon Ferreira (John) complete the family circle with the type of co-dependent behavior that would keep the royal shrinks in business for a couple centuries. Rainey is often too stiff but winningly manages a snotty, silky arrogance from time to time. Ferreira amusingly plays a repugnant little brat of a prince. What he can do with his wiry face, bulky black eyebrows, and snippy epithets is enough to make any parent wince with regret.

Leslie Smith, as Henry’s young lover Alais (Philip’s sister and a member of Henry’s household since her childhood) gave a flat performance opening night. Her strength was that she looked the part with her fine lines and sweet smile. But she didn’t convey much vulnerability or the strength and bitterness of Alais, who can, at her best, play right along with the big boys.

The stage is set with columns and curtains that allow for quick scene changes throughout the castle at Chinon, France. The simplicity of Ken Stack’s stage design (he built the set, too) and Jodie Osgood’s elemental costumes (which are, nevertheless, a bit ungainly at times) never steal from the intellectual ruckus of the story.

Twelfth century royals are frighteningly sharp, and what fun it is to watch them throw the knives at one another.

“The Lion in Winter” will be performed 8:15 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, Aug. 1-10, and 2 p.m. Aug. 11, and 8:15 p.m. Sept. 4-8 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. For tickets, call 244-7260.