Reader Reviews
A Man For All Seasons (Haymarket, Theatre Royal, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | As close to perfection as it gets! On Saturday 25th February,I staggered out into the cold Haymarket Night unable to believe that this world I found full of rain, taxis, people and MacDonalds was real. Reality seemed to have been left behind in the magical world created in the theatre by this phenomenal cast. This had been one of those 'once in a run performances' which, if you are very lucky, you hit upon once or twice in as lifetime. I am sure, that if you had asked the cast afterwards, they knew it was. Everything worked, everything was perfectly paced and that rarest of rare things, real magic had happened - recognised by all who were lucky enough to see this particular performance in the run. With Martin Shaw's last bleak words to Rich, "Why Richard, it profits a man not to sell his soul for the whole world - but for Wales!" echoing in my mind, I headed slowly through the biting February cold towards a welcoming hostelry and some supper. A most memorable evening! - 212.100.250.208) | 23 Mar 06 |
| Excellent production. Martin Shaw is very good and is well supported by all the cast. The one exception is that I didn't like Chapuys (Clive Kneller). All in all, this is a very enjoyable, engaging production with both drama, comedy and minimal but very effective scenery. Very much worth going to see. - 194.80.240.66) | 03 Mar 06 |
| Very slow and very dated. I truely thought I would love this, as its one of my favourite times of history and I love historical plays, but my god it dragged. MArtin Shaw was quite weak I thought, the set however was clever. I agree with the museum comment. Please dont pay top price, it so isnt worth it. Half price it might be worth a look. - 217.154.94.227) | 26 Jan 06 |
| I feel like I've been to a museum rather than the theatre. Both the play and the production seem very dated indeed, aided and abetted by Martin Shaw's rather pompous More (with that dreadful plummy voice). It was unengaging and left me completely cold. It's a very one-sided and reverential reading of history and I don't really see the point of reviving it unless you have something new to say. Personally, I found the RSC's recent Thomas More a far more interesting evening. - 86.130.212.180) | 17 Jan 06 |
| Saw Sat 7th matinee. Brilliant performance by Shaw - it had me in tears! Scenery minimal, but effective. Common Man character amusing and used role to comment sardonically on current affairs, thus indicating play's relevance to modern audiences. - 86.132.42.110) | 10 Jan 06 |
| An Amazing piece of theatre, brilliantly written, and the acting was outstanding by all members of the cast! Martin Shaw as Thomas Moore was exellent. It was an excellent mix of drama and comedy and I would gladly see it more than once. - 82.37.194.51) | 07 Jan 06 |
| Simple scenography, beautiful costumes true to the 16th century, no special effects, just good old fashioned theatre magic! - 83.131.81.70) | 07 Jan 06 |
| This is an old fashioned play, but none the worse for that, being solid, intelligent, thought provoking and entertaining. This production provides an absorbing evening of theatre that grows in power as the evening progresses. Yes this is a play where you do need to listen to the words rather than watching action. However the cast are uniformally strong and they breathe real dramatic energy into the play. Martin Shaw gives a powerfully strong performance and is well supported by the rest of the cast. This is a handsome production, superbly acted, of history play that does I believe have relevant messages for today. - 212.85.15.76) | 04 Jan 06 |
| This is still a great play with much to say even today. Rudman's production is a little dull in it's staging and the static set, looking not much diffrent to 20 years ago, does not help. Mr Shaw never goes the whole way but he is solid - however his family is very badly played and not belivable. Alison as his wife is a good actress but her voice so raw,deep and husky you can not hear her. No warmth at all and too strong against Shaw. Sophie very underpowered. I very much liked Clive Carter, Cromwell, really lifted the whole thing as did the actor as Henry VIII. Some very good support. The 'comman man' divice jarred, why lighters, modern text books and velcro??!! Played as stand up.... All in all not great but good. - 217.13.129.151) | 04 Jan 06 |
| I found this quite boring; it really is more of a pageant than a real play, with little in the way of human interest until the penultimate (admittedly moving) scene where More bids farewell to his wife and daughter. In Michael Rudman's handsome if static production, Martin Shaw gives a dignified central performance, with excellent support from Alison Fiske and Clive Carter. Tony Bell's Common Man jarred on me somewhat and Daniel Flynn's Henry VIII was a prime piece of overacting. Altogether only an imtermittently effective evening. - 195.82.123.181) | 04 Jan 06 |
| A slow burner of a performance from Martin Shaw that works very well. Not sure about the role of the Common Man and playing it for laughs - as it was my understanding this role was not a comedy one? and playing to the audeince for those laughs upset the balance of this drama for me, and perhaps made it less effective? - 62.6.181.62) | 04 Jan 06 |
| tedious beyond words - what a snore-a-thon - 86.129.141.124) | 04 Jan 06 |
| Amazing performance of all the cast! The interaction between Martin Shaw and his daughter Sophie is well worth going more than once! Thumbs up all the way! - 158.169.131.14) | 21 Dec 05 |
| Lovely to see Martin Shaw on the stage again, this time acting with his daughter in real life Sophie Shaw. It is a colourful production, fine acting from everyone. The scenes with the Common Man were some of the best. Worth seeing! - 82.1.91.86) | 23 Nov 05 |
| I thoroughly enjoyed this. I had only seen the stage version before so it was good to see the stage one. Martin Shaw was very good. - 62.253.64.18) | 30 Oct 05 |
| An excellent production of a fine play. It is beautifully staged, well acted and thoroughly entertaining. A top quality performance from Martin Shaw. This is presumably headed for the West End - it's worth it! - 62.64.161.16) | 29 Oct 05 |
