The Hampstead Players 2015 Summer Production

9th and 10th July at 7.30 pm
11th July at 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm

Directed by Bill Risebero and John Willmer

"Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king"

Richard II believes he is a divinely-ordained, absolute king, who cannot rightfully be deposed. But while he is fighting with rebels in Ireland, the exiled Henry Bolingbroke lands with an invasive force. Richard returns to find that many have flocked to Bolingbroke's banner. How will this work out? Bolingbroke is not the rightful heir, but has he the power to depose Richard and take the throne?

The deposition - even the execution - of established rulers is an issue as relevant in our day as it was in Shakespeare's. Here it is worked out in a struggle between forceful characters whose agonies of doubt are expressed in some of the most luminous poetry in our language.