Tag: Jonathan Church

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REVIEW: Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions in A Man For All Seasons, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Principled politician: Martin Shaw’s Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons. Picture: Simon Annand

SHAKESPEARE’S history plays still pop up. So too the ancient Greek tragedies and the Jacobean revengers’ tales, yet rarely do they tour, but why not in this turbulent political age?

Theatre should be more than an escape, more than yet another transfer from film to musical, a belief reinforced by the political dramas of David Hare and James Graham and indeed His Last Report, York Theatre Royal’s on-going community play about York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions’ West End-bound revival of Robert Bolt’s witty, wise and waspish A Man For All Seasons only emphasises how there should be a more regular place on our stages for proper, heavyweight political dramas that make us look at the malpractice of our own times.

Latterly in theatreland, Henry VIII has been infamous for his wives’ revenge musical, SIX, conducted like a cross between a pop concert and a rap battle. Harry makes no appearance in that show, where he is given six of the best in pugilistic putdowns. 

Gary Wilmot: Comedic star turn as The Common Man in A Man For All Seasons. Picture: Simon Annand

In Bolt’s 1960 play, Henry is restricted to a cameo, a look-at-me, pouting, petulant flash Harry in the manner of Rik Mayall’s Lord Flashheart in Blackadder, but his constant threat, his greater-than-God arrogance, is omnipresent.

Orlando James was absent on press night, but understudy Huw Brentnall did such a fine job that his rowdy, ruthless, buffoonish Henry received pantomime villain boos for all his narcissism, boasting of his best-in-class legs, boat, grasp of Latin (only to be outdone by Rebecca Collingwood’s bright spark Margaret More) and song-writing.

Bolt’s humour, such a strong suit throughout, is at its best here, and all the while, it is impossible not to think of President Trump and his need to be centre of attention, his need for an instant response, his constant craving of change.

By dint of his restriction to one scene, Bolt’s Henry III is a caricature, but the man for all seasons of the title, Martin Shaw’s Sir Thomas More is wholly rounded, a legal brain in the tradition of the brightest barriers, treated with due gravitas by Bolt.

Political intrigue and religious conflicts in A Man For All Seasons, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Simon Annand

Shaw had first played him in 2006 and wanted more of his More in 2025 for all manner of reasons: a chance to work again with Jonathan Church after their West End collaboration on Hobson’s Choice in 2016; a return to the beautiful Theatre Royal Bath; his appreciation of Bolt’s writing and his relish for playing More.

At 80, the erstwhile star of The Professionals, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently retains stage presence, theatrical heft and the timing and know-how of delivery, but the absence of amplification exposes his voice, which sometimes loses clarity in Act One, although he then over-compensates in his stentorian last speech. 

That said, his principled, prayerful Lord Chancellor More, refusing to endorse Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, is a wholly admirable, decent and dignified figure, sticking to his religious beliefs under the kind of pressure that would have modern-day politicians buckling.

If Shaw’s More is steadfast, Gary Wilmot’s comedic star turn, The Common Man, is the chameleon with the survival instincts of a cat, playing all manner of downstairs roles, from messenger to pub landlord to jobsworth jailor. 

Orlando James’s Henry VIII making demands of Martin Shaw’s Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons. Picture: Simon Annand

Each one finds him seeking to outwit yet live off the upstairs world at a price, tirelessly breaking down theatre’s fourth wall in direct address to the audience that recalls Shakespeare’s smart fools. Living on his wits, Wilmot’s Common Man is a radiant joy throughout, cheeky yet somehow never in danger of the chop amid the mayhem of all the political machinations around him.

Central to those machinations, as Henry VIII imposes the Church of England in a breakaway from Rome, is the relentless quest of Henry’s hitman, Edward Bennett’s venal Thomas Cromwell, to bring down More by stealth, applying every trick in the book, bending the truth, with cruel humour to boot.

Church’s direction brings out all the nuances, the intelligence, the lyricism, the delight in verbal jousts in Bolt’s supreme script, and while A Man For All Seasons may feel old-fashioned, right down to Simon Higlett’s dark, austere wooden set, that is only because plays of such depth, such vision, such brio, are too rarely staged today.

A Man For All Seasons runs at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

 

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Martin Shaw finds all manner of reasons to revisit A Man For All Seasons for more of Sir Thomas More on Grand Opera House debut

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.