"A Man for All Seasons" at Atlanta's Shakespeare Tavern

A head of state -- promiscuous, volatile, insecure about his legitimacy -- lashes out in frustration at a public official famous for by - the - book integrity, who stays silent rather than exonerate the strongman of shady dealings by which he secured power.

That's Robert Bolt's drama A Man for All Seasons, one of three plays set in the reign of Henry VIII being presented as "The Tudor Repertory" by Atlanta's Shakespeare Tavern. Bolt focuses on Sir Thomas More, devout and scrupulous legal adviser to the King, who declined to endorse the King's assertion of authority over England's church and claim of legitimacy for both his second marriage and for any heir produced thereby.  The play premiered in an England still recovering from World War II, when audiences would see relevance in the story of an autocrat.

[Photo: The Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern has just finished producing the Bard's complete works for the second time since the company started 28 years ago. The show Saturday June 8, served with dinner, was a Christmas present from my friend Suzanne. Thank you, Suzanne!]

The play is a drawing - room comedy in medieval drag, at least until Henry's fixer Thomas Cromwell turns the screws on More and his family. It's witty banter among More and his family; battles of wit between More and the King's agents. Actor Jeff Watkins, President of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, plays "More" as a man who listens intently to others, considering the merits of what someone says -- before exposing inconsistency or hypocrisy with an incisive remark. Daughter Margaret (Kirstin Calvert), educated by her father, gives as good as she gets in this way; not so his wife Alice (Janet Metzger), exasperated by her husband's subtle reasoning, insistent on securing their family. Margaret's beau "Will Roper" (David Sterrit) makes himself More's comic foil, ardent for his true faith -- even as his faith shifts from one brand of Protestant to another, to another, to another.

It's in argument with Roper that More speaks his most striking and eloquent statement. Roper has accused More of making an idol of the law, supposing that he'd give the Devil himself benefit of legal protection. Roper declares that he himself would cut down every law of man to get at the Devil. More responds...

And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned around on you--where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast--man's laws, not God's--and if you cut them down...d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Bolt's More gives his life for his God, but, unlike Roper, he doesn't presume to think that he and God are of one mind.


By the play's end, every other character is an agent of the king, for self - advancement, or self - preservation. Director J. Tony Brown takes the role of Cardinal Wolsey, lord of the church, more lord than church, desperate to appease both King and Pope. Doug Kaye plays the Duke of Norfolk as an avuncular and hearty best friend who shows agony, then grim determination to save himself, as he shifts allegiances from Thomas to Henry. Glenn Lorandeau as "Richard Rich" gets a laugh from the audience each time he climbs another rung of the social ladder, first groveling in clothes of a poor scholar, finally strutting in the finery of a peer. As the king himself, Troy Willis is charming and funny, as he veers between false modesty and self - aggrandizement, apology and attack, friendship and death threat.


When Cromwell throws More in prison, the humor stops. As Cromwell, actor Charlie T. Thomas takes evident glee playing both good cop and bad cop, sometimes purring, sometimes roaring, manipulating others throughout the play. After years of pressure fail to wrest cooperation from More, Cromwell resorts to out - and - out false testimony to convict him as a traitor. In the dungeon, More tells his wife Alice his worst fear, that she won't understand why he made his stand. As Alice, Metzger was unwavering, anguished, and stern: "I don't understand!" Watkins, as More, fell apart. The actors, in their raw emotion, made this hard to watch.


One character stands in a special relationship to the audience, "The Common Man." He breaks the fourth wall to introduce characters and to explain historical background. Simply changing hats, he changes the scene, serving variously as butler, boatman, publican, and jailer. Played by understudy Andrew Houchins, he's an affable rogue, pleading ignorance to the characters while he winks to us, putting out his palm for payment every chance he gets.


We all know that More is beheaded at the end, and it's no surprise that The Common Man wields the axe. Of course, there's a blackout when the blade swings down. History tells us that the executioner will then say, as he does in this play, "Behold, the head of a traitor!" I cringed, expecting to see a cheesy facsimile of the head of Jeff Watkins. Spoiler alert: What we saw in the spotlight was the head of The Common Man, looking like he's just been caught red - handed. How is he a "traitor?" His affable compliance makes him complicit. He turns nasty, warning us to recognize him whenever we see him again.


The play's resonance to current events around the world makes it a play for all seasons.