The plot is based on the historical events leading up to the execution of More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England, who refused to endorse Henry VIII's wish to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, who did not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress.

Bolt borrowed the title from Robert Whittington, a contemporary of More's, who in 1520 wrote of him: A Man for All Seasons struggles with ideas of identity and conscience.

His own position is depicted as almost indefensible; even the Pope, who More defends as the rightful head of the Church, is described as a corrupt individual and a puppet of Emperor Charles V. But as More says to the Duke of Norfolk, "What matters is not that it's true, but that I believe it; or no, not that I believe it, but that I believe it."

More fears that if he breaks with his conscience, he will be damned to hell; in comparison, his associates and friends are shown to be only concerned with holding onto their own temporal power.

Norfolk, knowing that Cromwell is fishing for an excuse to have More charged with treason, appeals to their friendship to try and persuade him to sign the Succession to the Crown Act 1534 (pp.

78, Heinemann edition): Norfolk: More: More's persecution is made to seem even more unjust by the inclusion of Eustace Chapuys, the long-time Imperial ambassador to England, in the story.

Chapuys recognizes More as a stout man of the church, and in Act II, after More's resignation from the Chancellorship, he informs More of a planned Catholic rebellion along the Scottish border.

All people in positions of power – King Henry, Cromwell, Wolsey, Cranmer, Chapuys, even Norfolk – are depicted as being either corrupt, evil, or at best expedient and power-hungry.

The place of the Common Man in history is emphasized when he says in his opening speech, Bolt created the Common Man for two main reasons: to illustrate the place and influence of the average person in history, even though they are usually overlooked, and to try to prevent the audience from sympathising with the more titled characters such as More, realising that the audience is more closely related to him – a classic case of Brechtian alienation.

This particular ending is exemplary of Bolt's notion of "riding with the current", as is demonstrated by "men who know what the world is and how to be comfortable in it", forsaking one's conscience in exchange of a life of "convenience".

If we should bump into one another, recognize me.The film version of the play ends with More's execution, followed by a narrator reading off the fates of the various characters involved (originally, this was dialogue spoken by the Common Man prior to the Tower of London Inquiry).

In the US, the play was first performed on Broadway on 22 November 1961 at the ANTA Playhouse, again directed by Noel Willman,[6] with Paul Scofield returning to the role of Sir Thomas More.

The production gained a sort of notoriety when Dustin Hoffman spread the story that Heston (who had gone bald in his middle years) was so vain he insisted on wearing a wig over his own hairpiece while playing More to keep it a secret from the audience.

An acclaimed Canadian production starring William Hutt and directed by Walter Learning was presented at the Vancouver Playhouse and the Stratford Festival in 1986.

[9] The play was staged in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket starring Martin Shaw and produced by Bill Kenwright.

[10] A Man for All Seasons was revived in 2025 for a touring production in England, again starring Martin Shaw, with leading players Gary Wilmot, Edward Bennett, Abigail Cruttenden and Nicholas Day, directed by Jonathan Church.

The film also stars Robert Shaw as Henry VIII, Orson Welles as Wolsey, Corin Redgrave as Will Roper, Nigel Davenport as Norfolk, a young John Hurt as Richard Rich, and an older Wendy Hiller as Lady Alice, More's second wife.

But he could not "excuse Bolt's idolatry of More's character" and outlined the serious misrepresentations in "the saccharine picture that both play and film present of More's religion and his furious and cascading hatred of Protestants".