If anyone ever wondered why The Bay St. Louis Little Theatre was uniquely given the Mississippi
Governor’s Award for Excellence, the current production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons
gives full evidence. The production of a play as challenging as Shakespeare is done by a company of
fourteen actors who “transport us completely to another time,” as one audience member said in front
of me upon leaving the theatre.
The trick to doing this is that each actor was carefully constructed a character whose choices
embodied the kind of person played. And those choices challenge the audience to ask – what would I
do in the same situation, what choice would I make if I lived then?
The play focuses on the choice St. Thomas More, the difficult role played with exactitude by Robert
Newton, makes when Henry VIII demands support to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
because he had no male heir. This seemingly arcane issue is made quite personal for every character
in the play who must opt to side with the King or with Rome. Thomas, unlike the others who come to
accord with the King, refuses to make his choice known, and offers instead only “silence.”
He refuses to even explain to his wife, his daughter, or his best friend, fearing on pain of death they
would be forced to say what he confided. Without soliloquies to explain to us, the audience must
deduce the unique stand Thomas makes for principle—not for ‘morality’ but because he made an
early commitment to “the law.” This is a tough distinction that, for him, makes it a personal matter of
choice, not of right or wrong. None of the other characters can understand his reasoning.
The play has surprising relevance today when there is a similar debate over whether one’s allegiance
is to the President, or to the law, the Constitution. And like today, most go along with the majority
without ever really seeing the distinction.
Bolt’s greatest invention was a character called The Common Man, played with folksy asides by
Harry B. Joachim, who embodies no choices, just tries to go along to get along. He plays different
characters who pop up momentarily—until the end when he is forced to be foreman of the jury, vote
guilty, and then becomes executioner of Thomas More.
All the other characters in the play, however, try to rationalize their choices, except for another
contrast to More, Richard Rich, played with perfect deference by Tim Gilmore. Costumes embodying
the time are by Bonnie Cooper and she did a great job with Rich, reclothing him in grander and
grander riches. At the end, when Rich finally gives false testimony to get More convicted, Thomas
notices his Chain of Office and gets the biggest laugh line of the play: “it profits a man nothing to
give his soul for the whole world . . . but for Wales?”
No space to list every excellent characterization, but Art Bailey Jr. gives impressive substance to
Cardinal Wolsey. Jim Lindsay is an excellent King Henry in his one scene. But he neatly deviates as
he talks informally to Thomas off on one topic—veering back to the divorce—veering away, bursting
with anger when he doesn’t find agreement with his desires.
Executing his desires is Thomas Cromwell, played with fake good humor alternating with rage by
Michael Schultz. He ultimately gets the Chancellorship and carries out the King’s wishes. But in a
freeze near the end of the play, all the characters’ abrupt ends are listed by date—except for Rich who
dies in his bed of wealth.
The most moving scene in the play is near the end when More’s family begs him to give in so as not
to be executed and his wife, Alice, played by the diminutive Cheryl Grace, berates him for being so
unbending and notes her fear she’ll hate him after death—but then breaks down and confesses their
unending love in an embrace that brings tears.
Direction by Cheryl Grace with Clayton Pennylegion was impeccable. Firstly because, even to this
deaf in one ear person, everyone spoke loudly and with clarity. In addition, each character stayed in
character, watching carefully whoever was speaking giving clear focus to the speaker. And most
importantly, the cast had a cohesiveness that tied perfectly to the play’s sense of isolating More from
those who go with the crowd.
The production continues June 28, 29, at 8 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2 on June 30, 398 Blaize Ave.
David Kennedy Sauer
Prof Emeritus, English and Theatre,
Spring Hill College
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David K. Sauer
Professor Emeritus, English Department
Spring Hill College
4000 Dauphin Street Mobile, AL 36608