Full cast announced to join Jonathan Bailey in RICHARD II at Bridge Theatre
London Theatre Company has announced the full cast for the brand-new production of Richard II, running at the Bridge Theatre from 10 February - 10 May 2025.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring the award-winning screen and stage actor Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, Wicked), Richard II will feature a talented cast to illuminate Shakespeare’s powerful work.
The cast includes Royce Pierreson (The Witcher) as Henry Bolingbroke, Christopher Osikanlu Colquhoun (The Doctor, West End) as Earl of Northumberland, Olivia Popica (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Queen Isabel, Amanda Root (Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth – RSC) as Green and the Duchess of York, Phoenix Di Sebastiani (The Great) as Thomas Mowbray and Groom, and Clive Wood (Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s Globe) as John of Gaunt. Returning to the Bridge Theatre is Michael Simkins (Guys & Dolls – Bridge Theatre, The Crown) as the Duke of York.
In addition, the cast includes Adam Best (Peaky Blinders) as Sir John Bagot, Seamus Dillane (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) as Lord Surrey, Vinnie Heaven (Cowbois, RSC) as Aumerle, Jordan Kouamé (The Mirror and the Light, RSC) as Sir John Bushy and Harry Percy, Gerard Monaco (A View from the Bridge, West End) as Sir Stephen Scroop and Keeper, George Taylor (The Lady In The Van) as Fitzwater, and Badria Timimi (Our Girl) as Abbess of Carlisle.
The understudy cast includes Emma Bown (Sex Education), Martin Carroll (The Royal Hunt of the Sun, National Theatre) and Stephan Boyce (Aladdin, Lyric Hammersmith).
Richard II is charismatic, eloquent, and flamboyantly witty. 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. Shakespeare’s subtle, ambiguous, and powerful play revolves round two startlingly modern figures: Richard, an autocrat who believes he is divinely sanctioned, and Henry Bolingbroke, a hard-headed pragmatist who has genuine authority.
Richard II will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Bruno Poet and sound by Carolyn Downing, composition by Grant Olding, and casting by Robert Sterne.