THOMAS MORE. To 14 January.
London
THOMAS MORE
by Anthony Munday, William Shakespeare etc
Trafalgar Studios (Studio 1) To 14 January 2006
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed & Sat 2pm
Audio-described 7 Jan 2pm
Captioned 14 Jan 2006
Runs 2hr 45min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 060 6632 (£2.50 fee per transaction)
www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 January
More means less as production sophistication overwhelms a minor, though dramatically efficient play.
Imagine Harold Pinter, or Tom Stoppard, say, collaborating with scriptwriters from your second-favourite soap, and you’ll have an idea of the disparity of writing in this play. Shakespeare wrote little of it (there’s one passage in his handwriting) and for the rest it clunks along in line with contemporary popular ideas through exciting scenes and sudden reversals. A fast-pulsed bad story, but thin to near-extinction on character.
Don’t expect the philosophical giant of Robert Bolt’s Man for all Seasons, running alongside More in London. Thomas More here is still a humble Sheriff in the first part, tricking a court into a not-guilty verdict for a pickpocket, more seriously quelling a riot against foreigners in London, then gaining a not-quite-in-the-nick-of-time pardon for the rioters.
More’s fine appeals to Londoners to consider their plight if they were exiled seemingly gives this a modern gloss, but parallels with present-day asylum-seekers are hardly borne out in the aggressive behaviour of the wealthy foreigners who appear.
The Elizabethan censor wanted all this omitted. Political sensitivities too mean the document More and Bishop Fisher of Rochester are executed for refusing to sign is never identified, hardly allowing the play to explore More’s conscience. Despite this caution, the drama was probably never staged, making this is less a revival than a rare Elizabethan 21st-century premiere.
Director Robert Delamere tries hard it make it seem more than it is, with Simon Higlett’s austere set focusing on tables to imply both More’s hospitality and the power that finally does for him - at the end they form his way to the scaffold - and Ilona Sekacz’s discreet score turning from merry to agonised. The effort’s apparent in the domestic scene where Thomas improvises the part of a missing actor among a suddenly arrived troupe of players. Turning their morality of Wit and Wisdom into a decadent Cabaret world compounds the unlikeliness of sprightly Thomas giving these drunken actors house-room.
Nigel Cooke’s central performance creates a quietly authoritative personality, a good-humoured man, but cannot disguise the essential one-notedness of this minor Elizabethan drama with its brief contribution by a major hand.
Doll Williamson/Poor Woman: Michelle Butterly
De Bard Crofts/Gough/Messenger: Kevin Harvey
Caveler/Lieutenant of the Tower/Messenger: Mark Springer
Williamson: Barry Aird
Sherwin/Messenger: David Hinton
John Lincoln/Luggins: Ian Drysdale
George Betts/Wit: Nigel Betts
Clown Betts/Player/Hangman: Fred Ridgeway
Lord Mayor: Ewen Cummins
Sir Thomas More: Nigel Cooke
Suresby/Sir John Munday/Bishop of Rochester: Keith Osborn
Lifter/Kit/Lady Vanity/Downes: Peter Bramhill
Smart/Robin/Master Roper: Julian Stolzenberg
Recorder/Harry/A Sheriff/Clerk of the Council/Catesby/Messenger: Jon Foster
Earl of Shrewsbury: Tim Treloar
Earl of Surrey: Michael Jenn
Sir Thomas Palmer/Gentleman Porter of the Tower: James Hayes
Sir Roger Cholmley/Inclination: Geoffrey Freshwater
Lady More: Teresa Banham
Lady Roper: Vinette Robinson
More’s 2nd Daughter: Miranda Colchester
Lady Mayoress: Evelyn Duah
Director: Robert Delamere
Designer: Simon Higlett
Lighting: Wayne Dowdeswell
Sound: Mike Compton
Music: Ilona Sekacz
Company voice work: Alison Bomber, Charmian Gradwell
Fight director: Terry King
Assistant director: Richard Twyman
2006-01-06 23:39:11