A MAN For All Seasons was the play for all reasons for actor Paul Shelley to direct at York Theatre Royal.

Ever since playing Elyot Chase in Noel Coward's Private Lives in October 2003, when he struck up a friendship with artistic director Damian Cruden, Paul had cherished a wish to direct at the York theatre.

Two years later he played Norfolk opposite Martin Shaw's Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons. More seeds were sown through the success of Bill Kenwright's touring production, which subsequently transferred to the Haymarket, "the prince of theatres in the West End, where all the American actors want to perform, down that Shaftsbury Avenue," as Paul says, briefly adopting an American accent in the Theatre Royal rehearsal rooms.

"We opened at Christmas, December 19, to very iffy audiences but within two weeks it was packed, and I just loved the play. I'd never read it before I did it, though I'd seen the film, and I thought it was exactly the kind of play I'd like to direct."

Paul was drawn to Bolt's theme in the story of Sir Thomas More finding himself in a dangerous place in the court of King Henry VIII, where he was at odds with the monarch and his corrupt practices.

"It's a play about the individual against the state: it's the same theme that makes Arthur Miller's The Crucible such a great play, and in this case there is this extraordinary relationship at the core between the king and Thomas.

"It's a love relationship: the king is in love with Thomas: not a sexual relationship, but the king adores him. He says he respects his integrity, his honesty, and when you're surrounded by a court of yes men, such honesty is like water in the desert until you cross him. Respects breeds love, but at the end he still chops his head off."

Paul loves Bolt's writing. "I think he was fascinated by the story of Thomas More and the individual up against the state, which is a great story for a writer.

"You think he must have organised history to suit the play but actually the more you look at the story, the more you realise how precise and accurate he is. It's almost an exact transcript of the trial, and I didn't discover that until I read Peter Ackroyd's biography, which is definitive. I read it, and thought Ackroyd must have lifted it from the play but it must have been the other way round!"

  • A Man For All Seasons, York Theatre Royal, June 7 to 28. Box office: 01904 623568 or online at www.yorkthetreroyal.co.uk