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by Anthony Munday, William Shakespeare & Henry Chettle, directed by Robert Delamere

Royal Shakespeare Company, Trafalgar Studio 1

January 17-28, 2006

SIR THOMAS MORE is interesting for a host of reasons.  Anthony Munday (1553-1633) is credited as the main author although the play contains scenes by at least four more playwrights including, most notably, William Shakespeare, whose contribution constitutes the only surviving manuscript for a play in his hand.  Written circa 1592 the play has the distinction of having been banned.  Its vivid depiction of the anti-immigrant riots in London in 1517 and its sympathetic portrayal of the Catholic More, who cannot endorse a divorce for Henry VIII (who does not appear), dealt in topics too hot for Henry’s Protestant daughter.  The RSC production is thus the first-ever staging of the work. 

While we chose the play primarily for its curiosity value, it turned out to be an exciting work that does not deserve its obscurity.  The subject of riots against “foreigners” who are taking jobs away from Englishmen gives the play uncanny relevance.  It is also so well structured you would never know so many playwrights had a hand in it.  The first half depicting the riots culminates in the sheriff More’s calming the insurgents and pleading for the rule of law and ends in the over-hasty execution of the rebels’ leader Lincoln (Ian Drysdale).  This prefigures More’s rise and personal drama in the second half and his upholding of the rule of law in face of the king, even if it means his own death.  By showing us more of the world of Thomas More before his rise, we felt the play gave a better-rounded portrait of the figure than Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons”. 

Nigel Cooke was well cast not as a saint but as a plain, ordinary man with an inviolable sense of justice, a folksy sense of humour and a real rapport with the common people.  Director Robert Delamere created a palpable sense of danger in the riot scenes.  His staging of the play-within-a-play in the second half, “The Marriage of Wit and Wisdom”, by an inebriated, over-the-hill acting troupe was hilarious.  The scene where More and the Bishop of Rochester (Keith Osborn) greet the demand to subscribe to the king’s disturbing edict with prolonged silence was just one in a series of perfectly judged scenes that made this a memorable, invigorating evening.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in the London Theatre Guide 2006-01-31.

Photo: Teresa Banham and Nigel Cooke. ©2005 Donald Cooper.