11 March 2025
A welcome return to the Bridge Theatre, one of my favourite and most exciting London theatres, after the many times extended run of the immersive Guys & Dolls became one of the hottest tickets in town. With multiple seating options, this black box auditorium sited by Tower Bridge has proved to be a magical box of tricks in the past. So how does Nick Hytner’s stripped down version of Shakeseare’s dry political drama fare after the glitz and neon of his crowd-pleasing Guys & Dolls?
This modern dress production’s stark minimalist design by Bob Crowley couldn’t be more removed from Michael Grandage’s Richard II, his final outing at the Donmar in 2011. That Richard, designed by Richard Kent, starred Eddie Redmayne – then an up and coming film star, in the title role. The two-tiered set of Gothic arches and columns burnished with golden sunlight saw King Richard literally draped and glistening with gold including wearing a dazzlingly bright gold battle breastplate. It opened as the audience assembled with the King sitting silently on his regal throne, high up in an incense-filled chamber, clutching a golden sceptre as proof of his divine right to rule. There was no mistaking his self belief (or delusion) or the weight of the crown and kingdom sitting on such young and inexperienced and frankly unsuitable shoulders. But there as also no doubt he was the King.
Cut to 2025 and it is quite a coup for Mr Hytner to cast Jonathan Bailey, one of the hottest acting talents of the moment, thanks to his stunning TV and film success with the release of the latest series of Bridgerton, Fellow Travellers and global movie hit Wicked all with a year and with the heavily plugged Jurassic Park sequel about to hit cinemas. It’s actually Mr Bailey’s first time back on stage since his Olivier Award-winning turn as Jamie in the gender-swapped Company saw him receive an ovation every night after completing the infamous tongue-twisting ‘Getting Married Today’. So that alone turns this into Event Theatre. But as with Tom Hiddleston in Much Ado About Nothing across the Thames at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, that level of celebrity casting also brings with it a level of fandom that frequently seems at odds with the material – both actors evoke nervous laughter and loud giggles at inappropriate moments in their respective productions. His Richard is good at showing shrill, bitchy defiance, but he often fades into the background.
Despite the medieval doctrine that the monarch is anointed by God and therefore untouchable, Richard II, who ascended England’s throne at the tender age of 10, proved to be a feckless king, who squeezes his subjects by raising taxes (all the while snorting cocaine with his couriters) and when Richard finally agrees to hand over power to his cousin, he proffers the crown and then retracts it — twice — like a petulant child refusing to part with a toy. All this badness is great fun to watch.
Yet with Grant Olding’s loud Succession-esque underscoring and the plotting Lords looking more like middle England bankers than noblemen, this resembles a boardroom tussle over a minor FTSE company than a land grab for the kingdom.
It is left to two of the minor characters – the Duke and Duchess of York, choice supporting roles in the capable hands of Michael Simkins and Amanda Root – to upstage everyone else on stage and leave the most lasting impression. As on their knees they beg and cajole King Richard to spare the life of their plotting son,hobbling around the castle floor, pleading and weeping, for a brief moment the production fires into vivid life.
Mr Hytner is a brilliant director of Shakespeare and Jonathan Bailey is a great stage actor. But here something is off. It is fine. Just fine. Nothing to scare the horses or excite the natives. A solid and ultimately unsatisfying production that lacks visual spectacle despite the efforts of Mr Crowley’s hydraulic-intensive design.
