'Bridgerton' Star Jonathan Bailey to Play Richard II at London's Bridge Theatre
Doctor Who fans may find themselves more motivated than usual to book a trip to London this Fall as a trio of Doctors (David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, and Ncuti Gatwa) take to the stage in different productions across the city's West End from October through the end of the year. But Bridgerton enthusiasts will likely also want to start hoarding their airline miles for 2025, as star Jonathan Bailey, who plays Viscount Anthony Bridgerton, is set to return to the London stage next February.
He'll tackle the lead role in William Shakespeare's Richard II, one of the Bard's lesser known --- or at least less frequently performed --- history plays, despite the fact that it contains one of his most famous monologues. (It's the "this Earth, this realm, this England" one. You know it.)
The play itself follows the story of a charming, eloquent, and wildly vain man who was a rather disastrous king, and almost completely out of touch with the political realities of his own reign. The real Richard, son of Edward the Black Prince, ascended to the throne when he was just ten years old and reigned until he was ultimately deposed by Henry Bolingbroke, the man who would become King Henry IV some twenty years later in 1399.
