The inaugural production of Apollo Theatricals will be Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons.

This 16th Century play tells the story of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) who was a man who stuck doggedly to his pious principles and moral convictions when Henry VIII wanted, at any price, to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn and to proclaim himself the head of the Church of England.

A Man For All Seasons is a heady concoction of court corruption with Sir Thomas glued to his personal dogma in the face of strenuous opposition, even though the consequences were catastrophic for him and his family. A madman or a paragon of virtue? Prepare to be moved by this thought-provoking theatrical experience.

Robert Bolt is famed for writing the script of the film Lawrence of Arabia and his talent is no less in evidence in A Man For All Seasons. Bolt's A Man For All Seasons was made into a film in 1966 - starring Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Susannah York and Vanessa Redgrave - which won six Oscars.

This production is guaranteed to stir your prejudices or sympathies for Henry VIII's method of ruling the country and to evoke your reactions to the way in which Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of England, was punished for his personal view of the monarch's regime.

Many of the cast are well known locally from highly successful productions such as Macbeth (Bonzo Productions, Chedworth), The Tempest (Cotswold Arcadians, Hatherop) and The Sound of Music (Bonzo Productions, Chedworth).

The performance dates are scheduled for Wednesday, October 30, to Saturday, November 2, in The Green Room at the Organic Farm Shop in Cirencester.

Tickets can be booked via the Apollo Theatricals website.