A Man For All Seasons

Synopsis

The life of Thomas More. 'I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I think none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.' Thomas More spoke these words at the end of a long period of persecution and imprisonment during which he had used all of his extraordinary intelligence and lawyer's wiles to avoid execution. Robert Bolt's finest play shows us how this scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor and friend of the king sacrificed the good life and the family he loved for a matter of conscience. His dealings with the great figures of the time - Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, the Duke of Norfolk and Henry VIII himself - are seen through the eyes of the common man, the poor cynic for whom a conscience would be a great inconvenience.

Our Review:

4 January 2006

The Theatre Royal Haymarket and producer Bill Kenwright (who seems to have taken out a permanent lease on this address now) segue from a new play about contemporary American military politics to an old one about English matters of church and state.

But both A Few Good Men and A Man for All Seasons are also plays about conscience and the price to be paid for maintaining one’s personal code of honour that likewise revolve around and resolve themselves in courtroom debate. And both are linked, too, by the epic productions, featuring large companies, that have been generously lavished upon them.

Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons – which was originally written for the radio over half a century ago, was subsequently premiered on stage in 1960 but became best known for the 1966 film version – is classic Haymarket fare in every sense, including the creaking sound of the historical plot being self-importantly...

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Latest User Review

212.100.250.208) - 23 March 2006:

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!...

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