After the tremendous, nearly two year long run of Guys and Dolls, Nicholas Hytner’s Tower Bridge venue has another hit on its hands. OK, it’s more star casting, with Jonathan Bailey taking the lead as Shakespeare’s deposed monarch. But there’s a lot more to this production; Hytner is too experienced a director to be swayed by a star and this is solid work through and through.
Breathe easy, Bailey is very good. Richard’s complexity is tackled well; Bailey can do frantic and philosophical and he “sports” – his Richard is a wit and gets laughs. The performance is smart enough to use Bailey’s reputation as a heartthrob to lean into Richard’s vanity and suggest a parallel between the divine right of Kings and celebrity. If it is a depiction to respect rather than inspire, it is impossible not to admire it.
Bailey is also a generous performer; like Hytner, fully aware the text isn’t just about Richard. Every role is given its due with a tremendous attention to detail so that the whole ensemble shine. You might easily end up awarding the laurels to Royce Pierreson who plays the usurping Bullingbrook, brilliantly reflecting how the man’s ambition conflicts with a grudging respect for Richard. The future Henry IV is a schemer, of course, but the sense of events out of his control, and Pierreson reacting to them, is wonderfully dynamic.
There are further fine performances, from relatively small roles that are easy to ignore in most productions: Badria Timimi does well as the Bishop of Carlisle, providing an important religious context to the argument. Michael Simkins, Amanda Root and Vinnie Heaven are all superb as the family York torn apart by the conflict they find themselves in. Hytner and his cast convey how fraught capturing the crown is for these people, how tense this time in British history was, and the drama gains in tension as a result.
Hytner uses Bob Crowley’s set marvellously, with minimal props appearing from the floor to effectively create scenes. It all looks stylish and, despite a long running time, the action is swift. If there’s a flaw, Grant Olding’s score for the show is cumbersome, imposing on events rather than complimenting them. But it’s hard to find fault in work that’s accomplished all around – a team, and a star, at the top of their game.
Until 10 May 2025
Photos by Manuel Harlan