Set amid the neon-lit boardrooms and shadowy power corridors of 1980s Manhattan, Richard II reimagines Shakespeare’s poetic chronicle of a monarch undone by hubris and rebellion. The story follows King Richard, whose divine right to rule is challenged by his cousin Bolingbroke, setting in motion a struggle for legitimacy and survival. The modern urban setting underscores the play’s timeless questions of authority, loyalty, and downfall.

This new production is helmed by Craig Baldwin, whose adaptation and direction recast the historical intrigue through a contemporary lens. 

Presented by Red Bull Theater, known for its acclaimed revivals of classical and Jacobean drama, the production situates Shakespeare’s meditation on power just blocks from the site of the historic Astor Place Riots—a fitting reminder of theatre’s enduring entanglement with politics, identity, and public unrest.