A Man For All Seasons

by Robert Bolt

Overview

A Man for All Seasons dramatises the conflict between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More. It depicts the confrontation between church and state, theology and politics, absolute power and individual freedom. Throughout the play Sir Thomas More's eloquence and endurance, his purity, saintliness and tenacity in the face of ever-growing threats to his beliefs and family, earn him status as one of modern drama's greatest tragic heroes.

The play was first staged in 1960 at the Globe Theatre in London and was voted New York's Best Foreign Play in 1962. In 1966 it was made into an Academy Award-winning film by Fred Zinneman starring Paul Scofield.

"A Man for All Seasons is a stark play, sparse in its narrative, sinewy in its writing, which confirms Mr Bolt as a genuine and solid playwright, a force in our awakening theatre." (Daily Mail)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408176337
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	12/04/2013
Series:	Modern Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	203,840
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert Bolt (1924-1995) was born at Sale, near Manchester, the son of a shopkeeper. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and continuing at Manchester University he graduated in history in 1949. He then became a schoolmaster and also started writing radio plays for the BBC before achieving his first London theatrical success with Flowering Cherry (1957). Bolt's reputation rests largely on his historical dramas, all of which involve confrontations of differing values that have altered history. The best of these, A Man for All Seasons (produced at London's Globe Theatre in 1960, but originally written in 1954 and intended for the radio) deals with Sir Thomas More's struggle to keep his conscience inviolate while serving his sovereign, King Henry VIII, creating a dramatic clash between principle and power. In Vivat! Vivat Regina! (1970) Bolt returns to the sixteenth century, this time examining the confrontation between Elizabeth I and the vividly defiant Mary, Queen of Scots. State of Revolution (1977) depicts the struggle among Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and others to define and implement the Russian Revolution, showing the corrosive effects of dictatorial power on both people and leaders. In addition to his stage plays, Bolt is equally known for his screenplays, notably Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1966), the Academy Award-winning A Man for All Seasons (1967) which, like the stage productions, starred Paul Scofield, and Ryan's Daughter (1969).