Take a trip to the Tudor era this week at the Grand Opera House – as some of the most powerful figures of English history are brought to life on stage in A Man for All Seasons.
Robert Bolt’s 1960 award-winning play follows Sir Thomas More – scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor and friend to King Henry VIII – who is, to him, being asked to support the impossible when Henry demands a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he can marry Anne Boleyn. What follows is a battle of faiths, that can only have one possible deadly outcome.
A Man for All Seasons is at the Grand Opera House York from Tuesday 29 July to Saturday 2 August.
This straightforward telling of A Man for All Seasons, directed by Jonathan Church, marries together two vital things: a well-written piece of work performed by a uniformly excellent cast. What is essentially a play of conversations is made magnetic and engaging by the ensemble of actors, and rarely strays into the stuffiness that could perhaps come from the heavy historical context.
It’s a role reprisal for star Martin Shaw, who first portrayed Sir Thomas More on stage in 2006. Known for his TV roles in Judge John Deed, Inspector George Gently and The Professionals, his arrival on stage was greeted with an anticipatory ‘Oooooo’ from the audience. It’s clearly a role he knows well, and as we are brought into More’s family and political life we are easily endeared to his paternal nature and upstanding principles.
Shaw carries the character with dignified control, with cleverly placed outbursts of emotion – you can’t help but feel frustrated with More for sowing the seeds of his own demise while simultaneously respecting his steadfast resoluteness.
Gary Wilmot sparkles on stage as The Common Man, guiding the audience through the story in a number of different guises – from steward, to boatman, to jailer. From the very beginning of the play he has the audience in the palm of his hand, his affable delivery and superb comic timing breaking the dramatic ice; his every entrance on stage is a welcome release of tension.
The rest of the cast are equally as brilliant. Edward Bennett is so deliciously unlikeable as Thomas Cromwell, and family unit Rebecca Collingwood as Margaret More and Abigail Cruttenden as Alice More support the emotional weight of the play. Cruttenden’s desperately contained grief as Alice is so palpable in one scene that I myself also felt moved to tears.

As the only two female characters in the play, alongside a strong-willed Louisa Sexton as A Woman, it was interesting to ponder who gets left behind amidst these battles of words and weavings of political spiderwebs – it is the women who have to go on surviving, and not by choice.
It was wonderful to see the understudy for Henry VIII, Huw Brentnall’s debut performance in the role, whose boyish arrogance disguised a deeper dangerous power. The monarch’s one scene in the play is a memorable one, and the shadow of the king hangs heavy over the second act.
The staging is relatively simple but effective, with an ever-changing panel of sliding doors, and grand costumes that suited but never distracted from the piece (Simon Higlett). Mark Henderson’s lighting design was equally as successful, and enhanced the moody and, at times, bleak scenes.
As the play steadily moves towards its inevitable ending, the audience are made into an unwitting jury and we feel culpable in the ‘many kinds of silence’ that Cromwell makes a point about. It’s this speech that stuck particularly in my mind when considering the play in our own current political climate.
A Man for All Seasons is a play to be enjoyed in any season indeed, so head on down to the Grand Opera House this week for more than just a history lesson – tickets start from £15 and are available via the theatre’s website.