Richard II review: Jonathan Bailey is commanding and campy in Shakespeare classic
Jonathan Bailey (R) as Richard II Royce Pierreson as Henry Bullingbrook (L). (Manuel Harlan)
Given the charm exuded in his turn as eligible bachelor Fiyero in Wicked and former eligible bachelor Lord Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton, the last place I expected Jonathan Bailey to properly stake his claim for a part in a summer rom-com blockbuster was in Richard II; a Shakespeare opus about the downfall of a 14th century tyrannical king.
And yet, here we are. I’m not sure how we arrived here; the titular character in the first of Shakespeare’s tetralogy of plays (followed by those chronicling his successors, Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V), hardly lends himself to the archetypal rom-com lead carved out by the Richard Geres and the Ryan Goslings.
Richard, with all the divine rights to be king but none of the presidential qualities, is a petulant, almost childlike monarch, mercurial in his decision-making and thread-bare in his compassion and integrity. While he has none of the natural-born aptitudes required of a king, his cousin Henry Bullingbrook, Duke of Hereford (The Witcher’s Royce Pierreson) is headstrong and seemingly ready-made for ruling. Though there are many other – perhaps too many – chess pieces on this board, Richard and Bullingbrook are the main two players, and Richard II is essentially a Succession-style fight for power, with a more murderous twist.
As Richard, Jonathan Bailey veers swiftly between puckish charm and apoplectic rage, a commanding stage presence honed by his years of theatre work pre-Bridgerton break out. When he takes to the Bridge Theatre balcony for the fateful reunion between the two cousins Richard spitting with fury through his speech, audience members in the stalls below craned their necks to a near 90 degree angle to see him in live action – despite him being buzzed onto TV screens around the room.
Back to the rom-com revelation. Bailey is a simply magnetic leading man, and even when his characters make perilous decisions – à la Edward in Pretty Woman, or Noah in The Notebook – we can’t help but quietly root for him, swooning all the way. Bailey’s Richard II borders on pantomime villainy (when he tucks into a bunch of grapes on the hospital bed his uncle John of Gaunt just died on, I was slightly slack-jawed), but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to be swept into his chaos.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Nicholas Hytner’s version of the egregious king lean a little fruity, too. Things get fairly homoerotic early on when, with a glint in his eye and the spirit of the Demon Twink possessing him, Richard commands Bullingbrook and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray (Top Boy’s Phoenix Di Sebastiani) tackle their differences with a sweaty, shirtless fight. From then on, his camp is hammed up so much that there are bouts of snickering from the audience even when there probably shouldn’t be.
There’s more to Hytner’s Richard II than one man’s star power; as Bullingbrook, soon to be King Henry, Pierreson is stern but captivating. The thrust staging is versatile, with time unfurling through built-in props, layered over one another like apparatus in a children’s playground. The script has a modern edge, seen through Richard’s penchant for cocaine and the entire ensemble swapping robes for hoodies and jet-black suits.
There’s a few sticking points, one ironically being Bailey’s performance, which is so luminous that the rest of the cast, bar Pierreson, don’t get a proper moment to shine. Plus there’s the obvious, with Richard II being one of Shakespeare’s more convoluted, unruly works. It’s probably not for the uninitiated. Come for the Bailey, and stay for the, well, Bailey.
Richard II is at London’s Bridge Theatre until 10 May.
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