A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. To 28 June.
York.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
by Robert Bolt.
Theatre Royal To 28 June 2008.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu 2pm Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 27 June,28 June 2.30pm.
BSL Signed 26 June 2pm.
Captioned 28 June 2.30pm.
Runs 2hr 45min One interval.
TICKETS: 01904 623568.
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 June.
York in grand mode, with an impressive look.
“God help the people whose statesmen walk your road,” Sir Thomas More tells the English establishment of 1532 as they line-up to help Henry VIII enact his agenda for achieving a male heir, even if it means an Act of Succession which More’s conscience won’t allow him to swear.
Hence he’s, literally, for the chop. Yet he’s the only one not to sever his conscience. Family, friends and politicians urge compromise; but he’d rather lose his head than his soul.
Robert Bolt gives such determination a 20th century aspect in his 1960 play, More shoring his identity by acting according to his beliefs. But Paul Shelley’s York revival makes clear this is a play for all seasons, including one of political scepticism.
The honest lawyer More understands human weakness, yet not the rigging of justice. “I am a dead man,” is his only response when it happens. Paul Trussell’s Common Man is the opposite, the realist on the Clapham ox-cart. He’s perhaps too singly the casual realist here, but with two intriguing exceptions: he reads the Common Man’s bigger statements from his notebook, separating him from the larger issues, like someone taking his opinions on authority from the newspapers, and the look of disbelief he gives the idea of official torture and imprisonment without trial, things now current and close-to-home.
David Leonard’s More at first risks seeming too blandly calm, but the impact when his temper eventually frays is strong. Shelley’s production often works between the character, of which Mark Frost’s Cromwell and Penelope Beaumont as More’s wife are strongest here. Details tell; More cannot part with any of his wife’s delicious custard, which he’d intended sharing with a fellow prisoner. As does Nigel Hook’s impressive two-tier metallic set, under lighting by Richard G Jones it creates a watery feel with pools of dark.
The execution takes place offstage, as all look towards the intensifying light. Contrast the Common Man, moving from easy confidence to being compelled into the course of injustice, his jury-foreman’s hat pulling down as the executioner’s mask, before making his way off, and out of history.
Common Man: Paul Trussell.
Thomas More: David Leonard.
Rich: Tim Daish.
Norfolk: Andrew Forbes.
Alice More: Penelope Beaumont.
Margaret More: Jessica Manley.
Wolsey/Cranmer: Lloyd McGuire.
Croimwell: Mark Frost.
Chapuys: Stephen Marzella.
Roper: Samk Hodges.
King: Damien Matthews.
Catherine Anger: Kate Cook.
Director: Paul Shelley.
Designer: Nigel Hook.
Lighting: Richard G Jones.
Composer: Christopher Madin.
Voice coach: Susan Stern.
Assistant director: Lisa Blair.
Assistant lighting: Matthew Newbury.
2008-06-22 10:22:51