Passion for 'All Seasons' comes through

TAMPA -- The Alley Cat Players' production of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons is a refreshingly substantive drama, thoughtfully interpreted and well acted.

Director Jo Averill-Snell has assembled a talented cast that inhabits the characters with passion and energy that draws in the audience from the first scene.

Ned Averill-Snell delivers a fine performance as Sir Thomas More, the tormented and reluctant Lord Chancellor of England. More would be happiest living the quiet existence of a country scholar, but he is drawn into the quagmire created by King Henry VIII's break with the Catholic church.

Snell's expressions communicate the anguish of his character with precise restraint. The tension builds steadily in Act II as More makes peace with the inevitability of his condemnation for refusing to be swayed from his convictions and his loved ones begin to realize the peril he is in.

Brian Shea as Cromwell is smoothly sinister, and the chemistry between Shea and Averill-Snell is intense as Cromwell plots More's destruction. Mark Trent is excellent as Richard Rich, a young man who at first attempts to become More's protege but fails to heed More's admonition to become a teacher. In the end, Rich betrays More, and Rich's queasiness and self-loathing at the moment of betrayal is palpable.

Katrina Stevenson as the Common Man is witty and effortlessly vivacious, and Jorge Acosta as the Duke of Norfolk delivers a moving portrayal of a man panicked and puzzled by the behavior of his friend and his inability to save him from the executioner's sword.

Though A Man for All Seasons is set in the 16th century, the moral and ethical dilemmas the characters wrestle with are timeless. With simplicity and subtlety, this play reminds us that right is rarely the easy choice.

REVIEW: A Man for All Seasons, Alley Cat Players at Covivant Gallery and Studios, 4906 N Florida Ave., Tampa. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 5 p.m. Sun. $10 general, $7 students and seniors. (813) 231-8478.

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