Jonathan Bailey as Richard II

This was a very highly anticipated production for me, I literally booked my tickets like 8 months ago. I love this play, it's so underrated, and Jonathan Bailey is one of my favorite actors. This was my first trip to the Bridge Theatre, and it really lived up to the hype. Director Nicholas Hytner's Richard II was a really lovely modernized production that made great use of the space.

Bob Crowley's simplistic design was effective and fitting, the highlight certainly was the full-size military cannon they rolled out upon Richard's return to England. Bruno Poet's lighting design was lovely, while Carolyn Downing's sound design really highlighted beautifully complimented Grant Olding's Succession-like score. The production itself actually felt like watching an episode of Succession, it really is a family drama through and through which starts off the most famous cycle of Shakespeare's histories, the Henriad.

Jonathan Bailey was absolutely everything and more, he bodied this role. He perfectly encapsulated what Shakespeare was going for in this play, and even gave us some brilliant petty comedy which isn't often found in the text. While the character's vanity is primarily what we see throughout this play, we also get a lot of intimacy and vulnerability, and Bailey did not shy away. I was continuously impressed by him, he has all the substance that his recent character Fiyero lacks. I thought Royce Pierreson was a brilliant somber and stable Bolingbroke. His stillness and stoicism was a lovely contrast to Bailey's flamboyance and emotion. I also really enjoyed Olivia Popica's performance as Queen Isabel, a character who usually is not very memorable in this male-driven play. I also want to shout out Vinne Heaven as the Duke of Aumerle, their performance was really strong. 

Richard II was not historically a great king, he was petty and vain. He believed he was entitled to the throne and was anointed by God. The main question that this play asks is whether a king's authority is divinely ordained, and what happens when power is taken away from said king. The deposition scene is infamous in the Shakespearean canon, and I really appreciated Hynter's use of space for this moment by having Richard up in the mezzanine area looking down at Bolingbroke standing on the stage and the massive cannon pointed at him. Equally, the trial scene was really effective and felt very modern and intimate. 

This is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, I think the poetry is absolutely phenomenal, some of Shakespeare's best, and it provides a lot of insight and commentary into the divine right of power. This production absolutely lived up to all my expectations.

Rating: 5/5