*For full disclosure, I worked as dramaturg for this production*

Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons is a complex, philosophical play grounded in history, theology, philosophy, ethics, and existentialism. But it’s one of the best plays of the 20^th century. Bolt’s play is dynamic and challenging, raising issues that are not only relevant for 1960 (when the show premiered) but remain important today. The Nittany Theatre at the Barn production, directed by Mike Knarr, did an excellent job navigating the challenging philosophical waters and bringing this historically grounded play to life for 2019.

The plot of A Man for All Seasons follows Sir Thomas More, who rose to prominence as one of early modern England’s most brilliant thinkers and statesmen, known for his scrupulous honesty. However, when Henry VIII seeks a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, More refuses to swear to the Act of Supremacy making Henry head of the Church in England. Although More makes no public statement, people on each side of the debate—Henry and Thomas Cromwell, his sadistic Secretary of the Council, in support of the new Church, and Chapyus, the Spanish ambassador, supporting Rome—believe they know More’s opinion of the matter. And so, it becomes impossible for Henry’s Church to be legitimate without More openly declaring allegiance or being found guilty of treason. Cromwell conducts a campaign against More, who uses his strict silence as an absolute defense against the charge of treason, until a young official desperate to make his fortune perjures himself by testifying that More denied the supremacy. Alongside this political plotline there is a personal element, because many scenes present More with his family, emphasizing first his devotion to his wife and daughter and then later their suffering in his absence.

The Nittany Theatre production had a number of excellent performances. Obviously, the most central role is Thomas More himself, and Ben Whitesell did a great job showing both the serene confidence and the deep emotional anguish of More when called upon. For instance, Whitesell brought this emotion to Act 2 Scene 7, when the imprisoned More is briefly allowed to see his family. Thomas argues with his wife, Alice (Laura Ann “Dellie” Saxe) because she doesn’t understand why he cannot give in. Both Whitesell and Saxe played the scene fantastically—he desperate for her understanding as confirmation that he’s doing the right thing, and she the pragmatist who wants her husband back alive, rather than valuing a moral stand.

Some of the other standout performances were by Stephanie Whitesell as The Common Man, Mercer Bristow as the aged and wheezing Cardinal Wolsey, Michael Russell as the sadistic Thomas Cromwell, and Dave Saxe as Henry VIII.

Probably the most problematic element for me was the lighting. The production used a very deep stage with two different portions—a raised upstage area and a ground level downstage orchestra type space. As the characters moved dynamically back and forth between these areas, the lighting often went up or down on a particular portion based on whether there were actors there, but in some scenes (especially night scenes) the lighting didn’t quite hit all portions of the stage. So, for instance, in the first scene, at Sir Thomas More’s house, Stephanie Whitesell—at this point in The Common Man’s guise as More’s servant Matthew—delivered some of her lines from an ill-lit upstage, while the main action of the scene was going on in the better lit downstage orchestra.