A Man For All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play
had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, and a one-hour live television version
starring Bernard Hepton was produced in 1957 by the BBC, but after Bolt's
success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage.
It was first performed in London opening at the Globe Theatre on 1 July 1960. It
later found its way to Broadway, enjoying a critically and commercially
successful run of over a year. It has had several revivals, and was
subsequently made into a multi-Academy Award winning 1966 feature film and a
1988 television movie. The plot is based on the true story of
Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Chancellor of England, who refused to
endorse King Henry VIII's wish to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon,
who did not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of
his former mistress. The play portrays More as a man of principle, envied by
rivals such as Thomas Cromwell and loved by the common people and by his family.
Title The title reflects 20th century agnostic
playwright Robert Bolt’s portrayal of More as the ultimate man of conscience.
As one who remains true to himself and his beliefs while adapting to all
circumstances and times, despite external pressure or influence, More
represents "a man for all seasons." Bolt borrowed the title from Robert
Whittington, a contemporary of More, who in 1520 wrote of him:
"More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his
fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability?
And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and
sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons."
Themes A Man for All Seasons struggles with
ideas of identity and conscience. More argues repeatedly that a person is
defined by his conscience. His own position is depicted as almost
indefensible; the Pope is described as a "bad" and corrupt individual, forced by
the Emperor Charles V to act according to his will. But as More says to
Norfolk, "What matters is not that it's true, but that I believe it; or no, not
that I believe it, but that I believe it." More fears that if he breaks with
his conscience, he will be damned to hell, while his associates and friends
are more concerned with holding onto their own temporal power.
At another key point of the play, More testifies before an inquiry committee
and Norfolk attempts to persuade him to sign the Succession to the Crown Act
1534: Norfolk:
Oh, confound all this. ... I'm not a scholar, as Master Cromwell never tires
of pointing out, and frankly I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or
not. But damn it, Thomas, look at those names. ... You know those men! Can't you
do what I did, and come with us, for fellowship?
More: And when we stand before God, and you
are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for
not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?
More's persecution is made to seem even more unjust by the inclusion of Eustace
Chapuys, the long-time Imperial ambassador to England, into the story.
Chapuys recognises More as a stout man of the church, and in Act II, after
More's resignation from the Chancellorship, he informs More of a
planned rebellion along the Scottish border, expecting More to be
sympathetic. Instead, More informs Norfolk of the plot, showing him to be
patriotic and loyal to the King. This, along with More's refusal to actually
speak out against the King, shows him to be a loyal subject, and thus Cromwell
appears to prosecute him out of personal spite and because he disagrees with the
King's divorce. Bolt also establishes an
anti-authoritarian theme which recurs throughout his works. All people in
positions of power – King Henry, Cromwell, Wolsey, Cranmer, Chapuys, even
Norfolk – are depicted as being either corrupt, evil, or at best expedient and
power-hungry. Bolt's later plays and film screenplays also delve into this
theme. The theme of corruption is also illustrated, in Rich's rise to power,
the Common Man being drawn into the events of the storyline, and in the
anachronistic portrayal of Henry as a younger, athletic man.
Although it is the law that eventually forces More's execution, the play also
makes several powerful statements in support of the rule of law. At one point
More's future son-in-law, Roper, urges him to arrest Richard Rich, whose
perjury will eventually lead to More's execution. More answers that Rich has
broken no law, "And go he should if he were the Devil himself until he broke
the law!" Roper is appalled at the idea of granting the Devil the benefit of
law, but More is adamant. "What would you do? Cut a great road
through the law to get after the Devil? ... And when the last law was down, and
the Devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all
being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast,
Man's laws, not God's, and if you cut them down – and you're just the man to
do it – do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would
blow then? Yes, I give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!"
The character of the Common Man serves as a narrator and framing device. A
Brechtian character, he plays various small parts – More's servant, a
publican, a boatman, More's jailer, jury foreman and executioner—who appear
throughout the play, both taking part in and commenting on the action. Several
sequences involving this character break the fourth wall—most notably, a sequence
where the Common Man attempts to exit the stage and is addressed by Cromwell,
who identifies him as a jury foreman. Bolt created the Common Man for two main
reasons: to illustrate the place and influence of the average person in
history, even though they are usually overlooked, and to try to prevent the
audience from sympathising with the more titled characters such as More,
realising that the audience is more closely related to him—a classic case of
Brechtian alienation. The character's role in the story has been interpreted
in many different ways by different critics, from being a positive to a
negative character. Several of Bolt's subsequent works feature similar
characters. Endings
Two different endings were written by Bolt. The original ending, performed
during the show's preliminary run in England, had Cromwell and Chapuys
confront each other after More's execution and then exit the stage, hand
in hand, chuckling with "the self-mocking, self-indulgent, rather
rueful laughter of the men who know what the world is and how to be comfortable
in it". This particular ending is exemplary of
Bolt's notion of "riding with the current", as is demonstrated by "men who
know what the world is and how to be comfortable in it", forsaking one's
conscience in exchange of a life of "convenience". For the show's London
production – and most, if not all, subsequent runs of the show – the Common
Man sheds his executioner's garb and addresses the audience one final time:
"... 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... If we
should bump into one another, recognize me."
The film version of the play ends with More's execution, followed by a narrator
reading off the fates of the various characters involved.
Stage productions Paul Scofield, who played the leading
role in the West End premiere, reprised it on Broadway in 1961, winning a Tony
Award. Both productions were directed by Noel Willman.
The original West End cast, playing at the Globe Theatre, included:
The Common Man – Leo McKern Sir Thomas More – Paul Scofield
Richard Rich – John Brown Duke of Norfolk – Alexander Gauge
Alice More – Wynne Clark Margaret – Pat Keen
Cardinal Wolsey – Willoughby Goddard Thomas Cromwell – Andrew Keir
Chapuys – Geoffrey Dunn Attendant – Brian Harrison
Will Roper – John Carson Henry VIII – Richard Leech
Woman – Beryl Andrews Archbishop Cranmer – William Roderick
In London, Man ran simultaneously to another of Bolt's plays, The Tiger and
the Horse. Both plays were major hits, although Horse was the more successful
of the two. British critical reaction was largely positive, albeit reservedly
so; few reviews at the time regarded the play as a classic. The show ran for 320
performances. In the USA, the play was first performed
on Broadway on 22 November 1961, at the ANTA Playhouse
Original Broadway cast The Common Man – George Rose
Sir Thomas More – Paul Scofield The Duke of Norfolk – Albert Dekker
Thomas Cromwell – Leo McKern King Henry VIII – Keith Baxter
Margaret More – Olga Bellin William Roper – Peter Brandon
Catherine Anger – Sarah Burton Attendant – John Colenback
Cardinal Wolsey – Jack Creley Alice More- Carol Goodner
Thomas Cranmer – Lester Rawlins Richard Rich – William Redfield
Signor Chapuys – David J. Stewart The Broadway production was a huge hit,
running for 620 performances. While the play had drawn mixed critical reviews in
London, it was almost unanimously praised by the New York critics, who
showered it with plaudits and awards. Leo McKern played the Common Man in the
West End version of the show, but was shifted to the role of Cromwell for the
Broadway production – a role he later reprised in the film. While playing
Cromwell, he appeared with one brown and one blue eye to accentuate his
character's evil nature. Charlton Heston played More in several
versions of the play-off-Broadway in the 1970s and 1980s, eventually playing it
on the West End. The play was a success and the West End production was taken to
Aberdeen, Scotland, for a week where it was staged at His Majesty's Theatre.
Heston considered it among his favourite roles. He also produced, directed, and
starred in a film version of it. The production gained a sort of notoriety
when Dustin Hoffman spread the story that Heston, who was bald, was so vain
that he wore a wig over his hairpiece, rather than let the public view his
actual bald pate. Another famous graduate of the play is
Ian McKellen, whose first theatrical role was as Will Roper in a revival
production in the late 1960s. He would go on to play More in a later run of the
show. Faye Dunaway also made her stage debut as a replacement Margaret in the
original Broadway run. An acclaimed Canadian production
starring William Hutt and directed by Walter Learning was presented at the
Vancouver Playhouse and the Stratford Festival in 1986. At Stratford the
production was paired with a production of Shakespeare's Henry VIII, with both
plays sharing many actors, and showing two perspectives on historical events.
The play was staged in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket starring
Martin Shaw and produced by Bill Kenwright. It closed on 1 April 2006.
A Broadway revival of the show, produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company,
starring Frank Langella as More and directed by Doug Hughes, played at the
American Airlines Theatre through December 2008. In this production, the
character of The Common Man was deleted by the director.
In 2008, Thomas More was also portrayed on stage in Hong Kong as an allegorical
symbol of the Pan-democracy camp resisting Chinese Communism when Hardy
Tsoi, after translating A Man for All Seasons, mainly into Cantonese, but also
with some parts in Mandarin, Spanish, Latin, and English, produced it as a
play within a play. Similarities were noted between More and contemporary
pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong such as Martin Lee and Szeto Wah, with
the Vatican being seen as representing British colonialism while Henry VIII and
his regime were seen as representing Communist China "suppressing democracy
and freedom" in Hong Kong. According to Chapman Chen, Hardy Tsoi's version of
the play is one of a number of Hong Kong works that suggest that mainstream
postcolonial theories which invariably portray European colonialism as
oppressive need to be "modified or balanced" to reflect the different
experience of places like Hong Kong. Film and TV movies
= 1966 film = Paul Scofield, who played the leading
role in the West End and Broadway stage premieres, played More again in the
first of two film versions, winning an Oscar in the process. The film also
stars Robert Shaw as Henry VIII, Orson Welles as Wolsey, Corin Redgrave as Will
Roper, Nigel Davenport as Norfolk, a young John Hurt as Richard Rich, and an
older Wendy Hiller as Lady Alice, More's second wife. It was directed by Fred
Zinnemann. In addition to the Best Actor Oscar won by Scofield, the film won
Academy Awards for screenplay, cinematography, costume design, Best
Director, and Best Picture. = 1988 film =
The 1988 version starred Charlton Heston as More, Vanessa Redgrave as More's
wife, and Sir John Gielgud as Cardinal Wolsey. By coincidence, Gielgud's name
now graces the former Globe Theatre, where the original play premiered in
1960. Radio productions
The play was produced, with the following cast, as the Saturday Play on
BBC Radio 4 on 7 October 2006, as part of its Betrayal season:
Sir Thomas More — Charles Dance Master Richard Rich — Julian Rhind Tutt
Master Thomas Cromwell — Kenneth Cranham Cardinal Wolsey — Timothy Bateson
King Henry VIII — Brian Cox Duke of Norfolk — Nicholas le Prevost
Master William Roper — Martin Freeman Alice More — Kika Markham
Mistress Margaret More — Romola Garai Boatman/Steward /Jailer — Dan Chyutin
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer/Headsman — Peter Tate
Catherine of Aragon — Adjoa Andoh See also
Trial movies Cultural depictions of Henry VIII of
England References
External links A Man for All Seasons at the Internet
Broadway Database A Man for All Seasons at the Internet
Broadway Database Free Study Guide for "A Man for All
Seasons" at TheBestNotes.com Complete text of the play at cooper.edu
Complete text of the play at veng6a.pbworks.com