First look at Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey in the Off-West End production of Richard II
Jonathan Bailey is set to star in Richard II in London. (Getty)
It’s a good day for fans of Wicked, Bridgerton, and everything else in which Jonathan Bailey has graced us with his presence. We’ve now been given a first look at the actor in the Off-West End production of Richard II.
The Bridge Theatre, where the Shakespeare play will soon be running, posted several images of the Fellow Travellers actor during rehearsals with his production co-stars. Bailey was captured peering at the script, as well as appearing to take part in a read-through of the upcoming work.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner (Miss Saigon), the play is dubbed as a “fresh take on Shakespeare’s subtle, caustic and powerful play”. It will see Bailey as the “charismatic, eloquent and flamboyantly witty” titular character, Richard II.
Despite having credits in TV and film big-hitters, including the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth movie, this will be a full-circle moment for Bailey. The Wicked star had his acting beginnings in the Royal Shakespeare Company and has previously appeared on stage in Othello (2013), The Last Five Years (2016), King Lear (2017), The New York Realist and Company (2018).
The synopsis continues: “And a disastrous King – dishonest, dangerous, 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.”
The play sees “two startlingly modern figures: Richard, an autocrat who believes he is divinely sanctioned, and Henry Bullingbrook (Royce Pierreson), a hard-headed pragmatist who has genuine authority.”
Also starring in the cast is Christopher Osikanlu Colquhoun playing the Earl of Northumberland, Olivia Popica as Queen Isabel, Amanda Root as Alice Green and the Duchess of York, Phoenix Di Sebastiani as Thomas Mowbray and Groom, Clive Wood as John of Gaunt and Michael Simkins as the Duke of York.
Elsewhere in the cast is Adam Best as Sir John Bagot, Seamus Dillane as Lord Surrey, Vinnie Heaven as Aumerle, Jordan Kouamé as Sir John Bushy and Harry Percy, Gerard Monaco as Sir Stephen Scroop and Keeper, George Taylor as Lord Fitzwater and Badria Timini as Abbess of Carlisle.
Richard II comes to the Bridge Theatre, London from 10 February to 10 May.
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