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Orlando James as King Henry VIII and Martin Shaw as Sir Thomas More. Pictures: Simon Annand A Man For All Seasons Malvern Theatres ***** One of the most tumultuous periods in our history as a nation and as a people is not only captured but brought to glorious life in this wonderful production of Robert Bolt’s classic morality play exploring the place of integrity and conscience in the corridors of Tudor power. It is simply a joy to watch. England in the 16th century was in turmoil. The nation was recovering from the War of the Roses which had brought Henry VII, first of the Tudor dynasty, to the throne, and had wiped out many leading families, weakening the restraining influence of the nobility on the monarch. In 1501 Henry VII’s son Arthur had married the Spanish Princess Catherine of Aragon, a long planned political union, only to die a few months later, six months short of his 16th birthday, which made his younger brother Henry, heir to the throne. When Henry VII died of TB in 1509, Henry, then 17, become king and he and his brother’s widow were married six weeks later after special dispensation from Pope Julius II, the Pope being less influenced by the word of God than the desires of Catherine’s parents Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon to maintain the political alliance of Spain and England. She was the bear him three sons and three daughters, all of which were stillborn or died soon after birth except one daughter, the future Mary I. Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir, and by 1526, with Catherine now 41, and Henry infatuated with Anne Boleyn, he petitioned the now Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage.
Asif Khan as the Spanish Ambassador and Martin Shaw as Sir Thomas More with Asif Khan as the ambassador's attendant behind Rome by then was under the control of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who had already imprisoned Clement once and as Charles was also the nephew of Queen Catherine, who disagreed with the annulment, Clement, presumably with an eye on his well-being, would not approve the request. It set in motion England’s break with Rome, the Reformation, sacking of the monasteries and the creation of the Protestant Church of England. Within the chaos was the very human story of Sir Thomas More, canonised in 1935 and patron saint of statesmen and politicians, the man for all seasons. More was Henry VIII’s Chancellor, his friend and his advisor and it is a wonderful, nuanced performance from Martin Shaw, a dignified interpretation of the quiet courage and morality of a man determined to be true to himself, to his God, and his beliefs. More is central to the play; it stands and falls with him and the veteran Shaw brings him to life in a quite remarkable performance showing all his experience and stagecraft. He gives us a More we can believe in. Henry VIII has declared himself head of what was now the protestant Anglican Church, which, at his bidding, has dissolved his marriage to Catherine and approved his marriage to Anne. More, a devout Catholic, who saw the Pope, whoever it was, good or bad, as the vicar of Christ, could not in all conscience support that, so he resigned.
Annie Kingsnorth as daughter Margaret, Martin Shaw as Sir Thomas and Abigail Cruttenden as wife Alice Orlando James brings a youthful energy the role of the King, his friendship and admiration for More plainly apparent as is his hail fellow, well met charisma, a bonhomie you feel could well be fickle and crossing or displeasing him could be . . . fatal, and Henry wants More’s approval. More’s nemesis is Thomas Cromwell, not the quiet, measured, wise family man of TV’s Wolf Hall, but the rather more scheming, self-serving, ambitious bully of history, in a deliciously unlikeable, unprincipled performance from Edward Bennett. He is supposedly doing Henry’s will but more and more his persecution of More seems to be becoming personal and vindictive. Cromwell is seeking not justice but power and influence. More’s refusal to speak about the annulment or swear an oath to accept the act of parliament approving it, is his defence in law. Silence proves neither support nor objection. At More’s show trial for treason Cromwell addresses us, the audience, as if we are the jury, with arguments that lead nowhere, drowned out by More’s silence, To break it Cromwell needed a witness, and who better than Richard Rich whose spurious recollection of a damning conversation was perhaps more advantageous than accurate when it came to Master Rich’s ambitions in what is a lovely portrayal of a man completely devoid of trust or probity by Calum Finlay. Rich who clambered his way over friend and foe to higher and higher office was to gain a reputation for perjury, immorality, dishonesty and untrustworthiness unparalleled in English history, He was a man "of whom nobody has ever spoken a good word” according to historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, he was a man happy to sell his soul to the highest bidder to get on. Then there is Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn’s uncle, and More’s longstanding friend who tried to persuade More to swear the oath, accept the situation with his lips even if he denied it with his heart. Pragmatism over principle the advice from a down to earth, honest performance from Timothy Watson. And suffering from those principles was More’s wife Alice, a heartfelt performance from Abigail Cruttenden, displaying the emotional cost of her husband’s stand as the family descend from privilege to penury. She is losing her husband to a cause she sees as not worth the price being paid. It is a cost shared by daughter Margaret, Annie Kingsnorth, who sees her father choosing belief over family. Then there is her boyfriend who became her husband, whose mind drifts on the tide. William Roper, played with enthusiastic charm by Sam Phillips is an ex-Catholic Lutherian Protestant when we first meet him and back as a supporter of the church and More’s stance after the interval.
Martin Shaw as More and Edward Bennett as Thomas Cromwell Sam Parks does his duty for God, and more importantly, the King as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head churchman after Nicholas Day's Cardinal Wolsey had been stripped of all Government titles and influence, while Asif Khan brings some light relief as the Spanish Ambassador, Signor Chapuys, lauding More’s stance and devotion to God – a praise perhaps tempered by protecting both a Spanish princess and an Anglo-Spanish alliance, politics trumping piousness any day. The real humour though comes from The Common Man. Shakespeare had a habit of throwing in a wise fool, and Bolt gives us The Common Man in a quite superb performance by Gary Wilmot, who we know best, perhaps, from musical theatre. He opens and closes the play and provides us with More’s Steward Matthew, as well as a boatman, inn keeper, Cromwell’s servant, a jailer and foreman of the jury. All with a smile . . . and an outstretched hand. We all have to live and good service comes at a price while, for those seeking useful knowledge, deafness, blindness and dumbness can be cured instantly by the chink of silver on flesh. Wilmot is our mate, our narrator of sorts, chatting to us through the fourth wall and leaving us with sound advice. “It isn't difficult to keep alive, friends – just don't make trouble – or if you must make trouble, make the sort of trouble that's expected,” adding with hand outstretched “If we should bump into one another, recognize me . . .” It is hardly a spoiler to mention More and his head soon parted ways but how it reached that point is a simply magnificent staging of Bolt’s play, full of wonderful performances and characterisations. Simon Higlett’s Tudor panelled set has a masterful flexibility and authenticity as do his often suptuous period costumes while Mark Henderson’s lighting is clever and atmospheric, particularly in the river scenes. Director Jonathan Church brings a simple clarity to Bolt's text. More is facing an ethical dilemma, a predicament which is the heart of the story, and it is laid out simply from the start with the tale unfolding at a well measured pace to its inevitable end. The result is theatre at its finest. One to savor. To 08-02-25 Roger Clarke 04-02-25 |
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