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RICHARD II

by William Shakespeare 

directed by Nicholas Hytner 

Bridge Theatre, London – until 10 May 2025

running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including interval

https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/

Jonathan Bailey may be the principal selling point of the Bridge Theatre’s new Richard II but he’s by no means the whole show. In fact he’s not even the most impressive thing in Nicholas Hytner’s stylish production. 

Although classed as a history play, Shakespeare’s verse drama is really more of a tragedy demonstrating how the hubris of a king leads to a mighty downfall. It’s tempting to see modern parallels in this tale of a self-serving, hotheaded leader whose inability to listen to reason and lack of consideration for other people leads to disgrace and removal of power but Hytner doesn’t belabour the point, despite this being a modern dress staging. 

Instead, he presents it as a noirish thriller with suited and booted men traversing Bob Crowley’s stark black rectangle of a set, placed in the middle of the auditorium as if to to make eavesdroppers of us all on the royal and political intrigues, while Grant Olding’s moody soundtrack thrums omnipresently and Bruno Poet’s ingenious lighting does the heavy lifting in terms of delineating the shifting locales. Machinations are thrashed out in bars, political executions happen in tawdry wastelands, a fighting pit is hollowed out of the stage floor, a prison cell materialises from below ground, platforms rise and fall to cross cinematically between scenes. It’s an admirably swift, clear rendition of a text that can come across as a bit dry in the wrong hands.

Bailey’s Richard is whimsical, nervy, wired (we see him snorting coke with his acolytes at one point). His petulant assertions of power feel more like the self-obsession of an Insta-handsome celebrity than somebody who truly believes in his divine right to rule, but he finds a viperish darkness in the King when he’s cornered and defeated. Note the venom with which he spits “God save King Henry, unkinged Richard says, and send him many years of sunshine days” at Royce Pierreson’s Bullingbrook, or how in the famed mirror scene he smashes the glass not by casting it on the floor but by head butting it. Vocally, he is lightweight and quirky, finding unexpected humour but not much interest in the verse. It’s a valid take but ultimately it’s the more absurd, self indulgent aspects of Richard’s personality that feel highlighted and that, coupled with the contemporary setting, robs him of much of his majesty.

Pierreson’s physically imposing, charismatic rival has more gravitas, and the contrast between the two men is keenly felt. Some of the verse speaking from the younger actors is below par but Vinnie Heaven’s duplicitous cousin Aumerle is a vivid, beautifully realised creation, as is Phoenix Di Sebastiani’s doomed Mowbray. There is fine, authoritative work from Michael Simkins and Martin Carroll (covering on opening night for an indisposed Clive Wood as John of Gaunt) as a pair of father figures, and an outstanding turn by Amanda Root as an impassioned but sensible Duchess of York, delightfully reconceived here as a bossy but loving Lady of the Manor type with the soul of a tigress underneath the doling out of tea, cake and sympathy.

Hytner is such an intelligent director that he can mess around quite drastically with a well known classical text like this but still remain entirely true to its intent and emphasis. He also has this thrilling ability to marshall a large cast around a performance space in a way that feels epic and full of showmanship but always with definite purpose. 

There’s a lot to enjoy here: it has a filmic feel, and also a refreshing clarity and moments of authentic excitement, and bags of atmosphere. It also, and perhaps unexpectedly, seems like a true company show rather than a star vehicle. Bailey is a striking, energised Richard, but it’s Pierreson that you come away longing to see take on other Shakespearean leads.