A play for all seasons

I saw the Theatre Royal Bath production of A Man for All Seasons. 'Obey the king or suffer' seemed like a very relevant message for Western people now, even if we don't have to fear being beheaded for opposing autocratic authority. 

It was a very clever device by Robert Bolt, the playwright, to have 'the common man' appearing throughout to counterbalance the economic and social privilege of the main characters and their abstruse arguments about law and morality. A different version of survival.

Martin Shaw was superb at showing the effects of Thomas More's gradual loss of status and support, as was Gary Wilmot repeatedly breaking the fourth wall in the guise of servant, boatman, jailer or executioner, confiding in us and explaining his view of what was going on.

I don't read reviews until after I've seen a production and was surprised to find that The Guardian had criticised this production for its "magnificent, Tudor-style, panelled-wood set and ... period costumes. These particularities mask the fact that the focus of the drama is a dilemma not defined by time or place: what course of action is open to an individual who believes in the law when their head of state defies the law?"

Seriously? Do we really need contemporary sets and costumes to let us know that history might be relevant to us? It's so frighteningly obvious in the US and many European states right now that I don't think we need an allegory to be any less subtle.

Edit: within hours comes the news that Trump has called himself 'king'. It's barely allegory any more.


Black and white in colour 302