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Richard II

10 Feb – 10 May 2025 Choose Dates & Book

Overview of the production

Richard II is charismatic, eloquent and loved by his friends. And a disastrous King – dishonest, capricious and politically incompetent.

Echoing down the centuries is the perennial problem: how to deal with a ruler who has a rock solid right to rule but is set on wrecking the country he leads.

Shakespeare’s subtle, ambiguous and beautiful play finds feudal England on the cusp of modernity, as a divinely sanctioned monarch is confronted, in the figure of Henry Bolingbroke, by the hard-headed pragmatism of real authority.

Richard II is played by Jonathan Bailey, whose past work includes Bridgerton, Fellow Travellers, Cassio in Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre production of Othello and Edgar to Ian McKellen’s King Lear.  He has also won an Olivier Award for his role of Jamie in Company and is Fiyero in the upcoming Wicked movie.

Image credits: Photography Jason Bell, Creative Muse Creative Communications

Choose Dates & Book

Sensory advice to be confirmed

Performance schedule
Monday – Saturday: 7.30pm
Thursday & Saturday: 2.30pm

Access Performances
Audio Described & Touch Tour: Saturday 12 April at 2.30pm
Captioned Performances: Friday 2 May at 7.30pm
Find out more about our Access facilities

Young Bridge tickets
Young Bridge members can login to gain access to an exclusive allocation of tickets for £19.50 each in Gallery 2 and £29.50 in the Stalls

Schools Rate
Tue, Wed & Thu matinees performances at £25 each, with 1 free teacher for every 10 pupils. Bands A–C, excludes premium tickets.
Visit our Schools’ page for more details

Groups of 10+
Band A tickets at £75 reduced to £65, Band B tickets at £59.50 reduced to £49.50. Band C tickets at £45 reduced to £35. Valid Tue, Wed & Thu matinees.

Contact groups@bridgetheatre.co.uk or fill out our group booking form for more details
All offers are subject to availability

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Cast

Jonathan Bailey
Richard II

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey is a critically acclaimed actor across film, television, and theatre.

THEATRE includes South Downs double bill with The Browning Version at Chichester Festival Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre; American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre; Cassio in Othello at the National Theatre; The Last Five Years at The Other Palace; Certain Young Men at the National Theatre; The York Realist at the Donmar Warehouse and Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre. He won an Olivier award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his portrayal of Jamie in Company.

TELELVISION includes Anthony Bridgerton in the record-breaking Netflix series Bridgerton; the Golden Globe nominated series Fellow Travelers which earned him a Critics Choice Award. Other television credits include Broadchurch for ITV; Chewing Gum for BBC One and Crashing for Channel 4.

FILM includes Fiyero in Universal’s highly anticipated Wicked; and he is currently in production on Jurassic World. Other film credits include The Mercy.

June 2024

Creatives

Director

Nicholas Hytner

Designer

Bob Crowley

Lighting Designer

Bruno Poet

Sound Designer

Carolyn Downing

Theatre includes Summer and Smoke (also West End – Olivier nomination for Best Sound Design), Chimerica (also West End – Olivier Award), Carmen Disruption and Blood Wedding at the Almeida; Death of a Salesman (also West End), Blue/Orange, Blackta and After Miss Julie at the Young Vic; All My Sons at the Old Vic; The Welkin, Downstate (Steppenwolf), The Motherfucker with the Hat, Dara, Protest Song and Double Feature at the National Theatre; White Teeth at the Kiln; Mother Courage, The Producers, The House of Bernarda Alba, Much Ado About Nothing and To Kill a Mockingbird at the Royal Exchange Manchester; Me and My Girl and Fiddler on the Roof at Chichester; The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and King John for the Royal Shakespeare Company; A Woman of No Importance in the West End; Les Liaisons Dangereuses (also Broadway), Fathers and Sons, Dimetos and Absurdia at the Donmar Warehouse; The Believers, Beautiful Burnout and Love Song for Frantic Assembly; Hope, The Pass, The Low Road and Choir Boy at the Royal Court; The House That Will Not Stand and Handbagged (also West End) at the Tricycle; All My Sons on Broadway; Angels in America for Headlong; Thérèse Raquin at Theatre Royal Bath; Twelfth Night at Sheffield Crucible; Kasimir and Karoline and Fanny och Alexander at Malmö Stadsteater; and Tre Kronor at Dramaten Stockholm.

Opera includes Benjamin Dernière Nuit at Opera Lyon; How the Whale Became at the Royal Opera House; American Lulu for Opera Group; and After Dido for English National Opera. 

Exhibitions include Hut 11A: The Bomb Breakthrough at Bletchley Park; So You Say You Want a Revolution? Records & Rebels 1965–70 at the V&A; Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones at the Saatchi Gallery; Collider at the Science Museum; and Louis Vuitton: Series 3.

She has also created sound design elements for Shawn Mendes’ Illuminate tour (2017) and Louis Vuitton Ready-to-wear collection shows at the Louis Vuitton Foundation and The Louvre, Paris.

February 2020

Associate Director

Lily Dyble

Casting Director

Robert Sterne