Richard II, Shakespeare and Power

The Conversation is a series of weekly events talking about conflict and empathy, inequality and power, climate crisis and wonder through storytelling and action. The first half of the evening is an interview, which is followed by the host and guest joining the audience around tables to take the conversation further.  Everyone is welcome.

Richard II is charismatic, eloquent and loved by his friends. And a disastrous King – dishonest, capricious 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 beautiful play finds feudal England on the cusp of modernity, as a divinely sanctioned monarch is confronted, in the figure of Henry Bolingbroke, by the hard-headed pragmatism of real authority.

The director of the Bridge Theatre’s new production of Richard II, which opens on 10th February, discusses Shakespeare’s examination of humanity and power with the historian Helen Castor, whose book The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV retells the story of these two cousins. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe. Castor’s other books are She-Wolves and Blood & Roses. Hytner was Artistic Director of London’s National Theatre from 2003 to 2015 where he directed many award-winning productions and he is now Artistic Director of The Bridge Theatre, which he co-founded in 2017 and where he has directed Julius Caesar and most recently Guys and Dolls. His award-winning films include The Madness of King George and The History Boys.

Chaired by Claire Armitstead.

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