Portrait of a scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor and friend to King Henry VIII: Martin Shaw’s Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons
YORK is the only city in the north to be playing host to Jonathan Church’s production of Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons.
Playing the Grand Opera House from July 29 to August 2, the cast will be led by Martin Shaw, from The Professionals, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently, in the role of Sir Thomas More and star of stage and screen Gary Wilmot as The Common Man.
“This is the first time I’ve worked with Gary and I hope it will not be the last,” says Martin. “It’s been a complete joy. He’s very funny and multi-talented.”
Welcoming A Man For All Seasons to York before its London run at the Harold Pinter Theatre from August 6 to September 6, venue director Josh Brown says: “We’re thrilled that the Grand Opera House has been selected as the only venue in the north of the UK to host this magnificent play. We’re confident it will be a hit with both visitors and locals alike, offering a fantastic opportunity for history enthusiasts and theatre lovers to experience a high-quality production about such fascinating and influential figures.”
Written in 1960, Bolt focuses on the greatest, most powerful and dangerous figures who shaped English history in his story of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor and friend to King Henry VIII.
Above all, More was a man of integrity, loved by the common people and his own family, who stuck doggedly to his pious principles and moral convictions when Henry VIII demanded a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, at any price, clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn.
In A Man For All Seasons, Shaw’s staunchly Catholic More is forced to choose between his loyalty and his own conscience, committing an act of defiance that will lead him to paying the ultimate price.
Birmingham-born Shaw, now 80, first played More in A Man For All Seasons in 2006. “We were at the Haymarket for quite a long time and we got life-changing reviews, the kind you wish you would always receive” he recalls.
“The character of Thomas More and the beauty of the play never quite left my mind, so I got in touch with Jonathan, as it’s such a joy to perform at the Theatre Royal Bath.” The Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Theatre Royal Bath co-production duly ensued.
“It’s a beautiful play, wonderfully well written, about integrity, principle and religious beliefs, of God being a higher power, and I had this amazing attachment to the character of Thomas More, but it hadn’t been done for a long time, but why not?” says Martin.
Annie Kingsnorth, left, Martin Shaw and Abigail Cruttenden in Jonathan Church’s production of A Man For All Seaons, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next week. Picture: Simon Annand
“It’s all part of the general dumbing down, where people of a good, rational mind will be thinking, ‘how can it be that the first thing that suffers is the arts?’.”
Martin places Henry VIII in the pantheon of narcissistic leaders. “I think it’s entirely true that these people are self-obsessed and do not think about anyone else. It’s a very good analogy to make comparisons with Donald Trump.”
Does his portrayal of Sir Thomas differ from 19 years ago? “Nothing different,” says Martin. “When I do a role, it’s moment by moment, working with the script and my reaction to others in the room. It’s nothing planned. It just happens,” he explains.
“My job is to empathise with the character I’m playing. Had I been playing Thomas More in Wolfe Hall, I would have empathised with Hilary Mantel’s version too. I can only empathise each time with the script that’s been written: the Thomas More that’s been presented to me.”
He loves the unpredictability of each performance. “Theatre is an amplified version of the thrill of life, as you’re reacting and swapping thoughts with other people, and the audience is another part of the cast, contributing their feelings throughout,” he says.
Could Henry VIII and Thomas More both be right in their actions? “The problem for us always is that facts are not nuanced. One person’s motive might be to do evil to satisfy lust, yet another person could work with the same facts and believe they’re acting from the point of love. The motive behind each person defines them,” says Martin.
“That’s where the clash between Thomas and Henry lies. The undeniable facts might be identical but the motives for action will be different.”
He has enjoyed reuniting with Jonathan Church after playing Henry Hobson in his Vaudeville Theatre production of Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice in London in 2016. “Jonathan is a very calming presence, a good hand on the tiller,” says Martin.
“Hobson was entirely the opposite of Thomas More and that’s the joy of the job I do: playing people at the opposite ends of the scale. Hobson was like Henry VIII: an utterly self-centred, alcoholic man, though he eventually saw the light, but only because he had no choice.
“I would say Hobson’s Choice is one of the most beautifully written plays in the English language that can be compared to [Shakespeare’s] King Lear.”
After West End appearances in such plays as The Best Man and Twelve Angry Men, Martin will be chalking up a first next week. “I’ve never been on stage in York before,” he says. “I’m looking forward to it a lot.”
Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions present A Man For All Seasons, Grand Opera House, York, July 29 to August 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.