Having turned 80 on Tuesday, Martin Shaw has come a long way since his bubble-permed, pin-up days as Ray Doyle in the British, Starsky & Hutch-inspired Seventies’ cop show The Professionals.
PATRICK MARIMON reviews A Man For All Seasons: Professional as ever, but Shaw's too old for More A Man For All Seasons (Theatre Royal Bath and touring).
It tells the story of Catholic saint Thomas More’s stand against Henry VIII, or more precisely, Henry’s determination to defy the Pope, appoint himself head of the Church in England, ditch Catherine of Aragon and have a go at siring a son by another woman (Anne Boleyn).
I’d be thrilled to carry myself half so well at the age of 80, but Shaw’s reduced energy does make him seem resigned to his dismal fate from the start.
The elephantine question in the room, however, is if Shaw is too old for a man who went to the block at the age of 57.
