HOT on the heels of the triumph of Wolf Hall on television, Bath Theatre Royal takes audiences once again into the dark corridors of power and the dangerous glamour of the court of Henry VIII, with a new production of Robert Bolt’s great drama, A Man for all Seasons, running at the theatre from Thursday 16th to Saturday 25th January, before a national tour.

The central character is the other Thomas – Sir Thomas More, a deeply religious man of faith and integrity, who clashed with the mercurial king over his wish to divorce Catherine of Aragon and Marry Anne Boleyn. More is played by Martin Shaw, known to millions of television viewers for his roles in Judge John Deed, Inspector George Gently and The Professionals. His many West End appearances include Twelve Angry Men, Hobson’s Choice and The Best Man, which played Bath in 2016 and 2017. Recent stage credits include Alone Together, The Cherry Orchard and Love Letters. His last performance in Bath was in Gaslight in 2019.

Some of the greatest, most powerful and dangerous figures who shaped English history are brought vividly to life in this play which is directed by Jonathan Church, and also stars Edward Bennett as Thomas Cromwell, (of Wolf Hall fame), Abigail Cruttenden as Alice More, Nicholas Day as Cardinal Wolsey and Orlando James as the King. Gary Wilmot is The Common Man, the important narrator of this powerful imagined version of real events.

Sir Thomas More – scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor and friend to King Henry VIII – was, above all, a man of integrity, loved by the common people and his own family. When Henry demands a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn, the staunchly Catholic Thomas is forced to choose between his loyalty and his own conscience, committing an incredible act of defiance for which he eventually pays the ultimate price.

Edward Bennett is a leading actor of the Royal Shakespeare Company, whose stage credits include major productions of Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth. His previous performances at the Theatre Royal Bath include four productions with The Peter Hall Company in 2006 and 2007, The School for Scandal in the Theatre Royal’s 2012 Summer Season, Things We Do For Love in 2014 and Betrayal in 2020. Recent screen credits include SAS Rogue Heroes, Bridgerton, Joan, Franklin and Cobra.

Timothy Watson, who plays the Duke of Norfolk, was the villainous Rob Titchener in more than 330 episodes of Radio 4’s The Archers. Calum Finlay is Richard Rich (whose self-serving duplicity was also seen in Wolf Hall), and other parts are played by Hari Kang as Chapuy’s assistant, Asif Khan as Chapuys, Annie Kingsnorth as Margaret More, Sam Parks as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Sam Phillips as William Roper, and Louisa Sexton, Huw Brentall and Andrew McDonald.

Director Jonathan Church’s extensive credits include a ten-year period as artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre. He last directed Martin Shaw in the acclaimed West End transfer of Hobson’s Choice. The creative team also features Simon Higlett (Set and Costume Designer), Mark Henderson (Lighting Designer), Paul Groothuis (Sound Designer), Matthew Scott (Composer) and Gabrielle Dawes (Casting Director).

Playwright Robert Bolt (1924 – 1995) taught at Somerset’s Millfield School before becoming a full-time writer at the age of 33, following the success of his 1957 play, Flowering Cherry, staged in London starring Celia Johnson and Ralph Richardson. He wrote a number of plays for BBC Radio in the 1950s, including an early version of A Man For All Seasons in 1954. Later developed into a stage play, it was first seen in the West End in 1960 prior to a Broadway transfer. Paul Scofield and Leo McKern, who played the two Thomases in the London premiere, reprised their roles in the 1966 film adaptation, starring alongside John Hurt, Corin Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Shaw, Orson Wells and Susannah Yorke, directed by Fred Zinnemann. The film won six Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and seven BAFTAs, including Best Screenplay on all three occasions for Robert Bolt. He also wrote the screenplays for David Lean’s films Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Ryan’s Daughter (1970), as well as The Bounty (1984) and The Mission (1986).

The 2025 tour of A Man For All Seasons, produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, opens in Bath before touring to Chichester, Malvern, Cheltenham, Oxford, Guildford, Canterbury and Richmond.