Review: RICHARD II at The Bridge Theatre

Date: 14/04/2025

Stars: 4

In Nicholas Hytner’s slick, sharp-edged production of Richard II at the Bridge Theatre, the fall of a king is reimagined not with velvet robes and candlelight but in boardrooms, under spotlights, and behind glass walls that feel more Fortune 500 than medieval court. This is Shakespeare with its sleeves rolled up and its jaw clenched, and at the centre of it all is Jonathan Bailey, giving a performance that is both deeply theatrical and painfully, glitteringly human.

Bailey’s Richard is a man built for spectacle — charming, theatrical, and convinced of his own divinity. But beneath the self-importance lies a childlike fragility, and Bailey plays both sides with startling ease. There’s a manic charisma to him early on, all posturing and performance, but as the crown begins to slip, so does the mask. By the time we reach “Let us sit upon the ground,” the shift is complete — the showman has become a shadow. It’s not just powerful, it’s disarming.

The modern-dress setting works surprisingly well. Bob Crowley’s design is clean, corporate, and unnervingly cold — a space where power is displayed but never safe. These aren’t lords and earls; they’re executives, strategists, and yes-men. That choice pulls the play’s political manoeuvring into sharper focus, and lends an eerie contemporary edge to Richard’s very public unravelling.

Royce Pierreson’s Bolingbroke offers the counterbalance: steady, calculating, and almost unnervingly calm. He doesn’t need theatrics — his power comes from silence, strategy, and a sense that he’s already three moves ahead. The clash between the two is less a battle of swords than a shifting of tides, and it’s captivating to watch.

Not everything lands quite as cleanly. The first half fizzes with energy, but the latter part of the play — particularly after Bolingbroke gains control — loses a little of its tension. There are moments where the pace lags and scenes stretch just past their emotional peak. And while the modern elements mostly enhance the drama, a few feel slightly too on-the-nose — the occasional flash of excess (literal or metaphorical) borders on caricature.

Still, there’s no doubt this is a bold and intelligent take on a complex play. Hytner doesn’t shy away from the politics or the poetry, but he lets the humanity lead. This isn’t a portrait of a king as a symbol — it’s a man caught in the wreckage of his own myth-making.

Richard II can be a hard play to crack — too much introspection and it drags, too much flash and it loses its soul. But this production finds something in the middle: part tragedy, part theatre of ego, and wholly compelling.

And Bailey? He wears the crown like it was made for him. Even as it slips.

Richard II plays at the Bridge Theatre until 10th May, with tickets available here: https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/