Editing Robert Bolt (section)

===Plays===
Bolt wrote several plays for [[BBC Radio]] in the 1950s, as well as several unproduced plays. Many of his early radio plays were for children, with few adapted for the stage.

* ''The Last of the Wine'' (1955) – A play showcasing the reactions of ordinary Englishmen to the advent of nuclear armageddon, one of Bolt's pet political issues. One of Bolt's radio plays which Bolt tried to adapt to the stage. However, the play was either never performed or performed a few times and then cancelled. ''Wine'' has never been published or performed since. First broadcast late March or early April 1955 on the BBC Third Programme.<ref>Trewin, J. C. "Critic on the Hearth." ''Listener'' [London, England] 5 August 1954: 224.</ref>
* ''[[Flowering Cherry]]'' (1958) – concerns a middle-aged man, an insurance salesman dissatisfied with his life who retreats into his fantasies of owning a cherry orchard. His erratic behaviour alienates family and friends and threatens his financial ruin. Ran on the West End starring [[Ralph Richardson]] and [[Celia Johnson]] (succeeded by [[Wendy Hiller]]) to success but mixed reviews. Many critics felt it too closely resembled [[Arthur Miller]]'s ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'', and had a brief but unsuccessful run on Broadway starring Hiller and [[Eric Portman]].
* ''[[The Tiger and the Horse]]'' (1960) – is the first of Bolt's plays to develop his themes of individualism, society, authority, and politics. It concerns an ageing college professor, John Dean, who is running for Vice-Chancellor of a prestigious university, but finds his election undermined by his daughter's love affair, a political petition, and his wife's deteriorating mental state. The play starred [[Michael Redgrave|Michael]] and [[Vanessa Redgrave]], among others, and was directed by [[Frith Banbury]].
* ''[[A Man for All Seasons (play)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' (1960) – involves Sir Thomas More's conflict with Henry VIII over the latter's break with the Catholic Church. Adapted from a radio play Bolt had written in 1954, it is generally regarded as Bolt's finest work – and certainly his most successful. The BBC production was reviewed in the ''Listener'' on 5 August 1954. The play develops in full his themes of individuality versus society and authority as corrupt. The strain of [[Brecht]]ianism which would pervade many of his later works is first present here, in the character of the 'Common Man', who both narrates and takes part in the action as various minor characters. The original run starred [[Paul Scofield]] as Thomas More, as well as [[Keith Baxter (actor)|Keith Baxter]] as Henry VIII, [[George Rose (actor)|George Rose]] as the Common Man, [[Leo McKern]] as the Common Man in the West End production and [[Thomas Cromwell]] in the Broadway show (a role originated in London by [[Andrew Keir]] and later taken over by [[Thomas Gomez]]), and [[Albert Dekker]] as the [[Duke of Norfolk]]. It was a huge critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, has had several revivals, and was made into an equally acclaimed film in 1966.
* ''[[Vivat! Vivat Regina!]]'' (1971) – Bolt's most successful show after ''A Man for All Seasons'', a historical account of the reigns of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], and [[Elizabeth I]] of England, comparing and contrasting the personalities and reigns of the two female rulers. Highly successful, it ran for several months on Broadway, earning several [[Tony Awards|Tony]] nominations. The original cast included [[Eileen Atkins]] as Elizabeth and Bolt's wife [[Sarah Miles]] as Mary. The play has experienced several revivals, most notably a 1985 [[Off-Broadway]] production starring [[Geraldine Page]] as Elizabeth.
* ''[[State of Revolution]]'' (1977) – An in-depth political depiction of the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], focusing on [[Vladimir Lenin]] as "a great man possessed by a terrible idea", and the struggles of [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] to gain power under him. It is told from the point of view of [[Anatoly Lunacharsky|Lunacharsky]], Lenin's Minister of Education. The original cast included [[Michael Bryant (actor)|Michael Bryant]] as Lenin, [[Terence Rigby]] as Stalin, [[Brian Blessed]] as [[Maxim Gorky]] and [[Michael Kitchen]] as Trotsky. Though meticulously researched, the play received mixed reviews. Bolt himself felt that he had not written the play as well as he might have done.