2008-2017

2015-2017

Sidney Godolphin, Queen Anne, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford and Haymarket Theatre - London

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Raging debates over ideological wars, rising national debt, expenses scandals, a rejected lover's threats to make private correspondence public, and an abundance of political satire

Reviews
"Queen Anne is a fresh, moving and exciting piece of work amplifying the important female voices that history all too often ignores""...great turns from Richard Hope as Lord Godolphin..."

Heather Kincaid review

Pictures

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In Rehearsal

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Research

St James’s Palace - No Photos allowed - granted private visit by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II

Kensington Palace @KensingtonRoyal

National Portrait Gallery @NPGLondon

Godolphin and Kit Kat Club pictures

Blenheim Palace

2015

Hector, The History Boys , Selladoor  - UK Tour

Played Hector in The History Boys by Alan Bennett for a seven month UK Tour.

Set in the 1980s, The History Boys is the story of a group of bright, funny and unruly sixth-formers in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. Their maverick English teacher is at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher, whilst their headmaster is obsessed with results and league tables. Staffroom rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence overflow, provoking insistent questions about history and how you teach it. Their A Levels may be over, but their true education is only just beginning. - See more at Sell A Door 

Reviews

 "...Poldark star Richard Hope whose portrayal of the maverick, but painfully lonely, English master Douglas Hector leaves your heart aching"
Read more at Cambridge News

"...an immaculate and understated performance from Richard Hope"
Angela Singer, Hunts Post

Pictures

Behind the Scenes

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2015

Performer, Mendelssohn’s 'Midsummer Night’s Dream', City of London Sinfonia, Southwark Cathedral

Narrator and Performer, Shostakovich’s 'Hamlet', City of London Sinfonia, Village Underground

Reviews: https://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/city-london-sinfonia-layton-southwark-cathedral-2

Shakespeare explored with the City of London Sinfonia at Southwark Cathedral | by Bachtrack for classical music, opera, ballet and dance event reviews

Richard had already performed with City of London Sinfonia with the RSC at Hampton Court Palace playing Oberon/ Thesus in Medelssohn's Midsummer Nights Dream

2014

Elizabeth 1/ Narrator/ Chorus, Orlando - The Royal Exchange, Manchester

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Played Queen Elizabeth and Narrator in Orlando at Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre

Written by Virginia Woolf. Adapted by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Max Webster.

A time travelling gender-swapping comedy that romps across continents and centuries.

See Suranne Jones talking about the production here
Reviews

Manchester Evening News Review

"Richard Hope particularly shines as Elizabeth I gliding across the stage like a demented Dalek – snarling, predatory and repulsive."  BBC
Click here for a review from the Royal Exchange, Manchester
Orlando review 2014

Suranne Jones as Orlando, Richard Hope as Queen
Elizabeth

Photos ©Jonathan Keenan
Theatre Orlando 2014
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Pictures

Behind the Scenes

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2012

Horst Ehmke, Democracy, Sheffield Theatres and The Old Vic Theatre - London

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Democracy, written by Michael Frayn and directed by Paul Miller, ran at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre from March 8-31 and played at the Old Vic.

Richard played the part of Horst Ehmke to stellar reviews, see below:

Two exclusive interviews with Richard:
Star Interview
Sheffield Telegraph

Guardian
FT
British Theatre Guide
The Star
'Richard Hope is especially fine as a chief of staff whose lackadaisical vetting procedures do not warrant much scrutiny'

Winner of the Evening Standard Award and Critics’ Circle Best Play awards, Democracy is a thrilling portrayal of a political visionary who changes the face of German politics.  Michael Frayn’s 2003 drama explores the extraordinary relationship that developed between Willy Brandt, the West German Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, and his assistant, Gunter Guillaume, whose exposure as a spy for the East German state security service — the Stasi - precipitated Brandt’s downfall

Democracy opened in Sheffield and transferred to The Old Vic. It was the first show to do so in Daniel Evans tenure, now Artistic Director at Chichester.

Pictures

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The Duke of Albany, King Lear, Almeida Theatre

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Richard played the Duke of Albany in this stunning production of King Lear directed by Michael Attenborough and starring Jonathan Pryce at the Almeida Theatre.

See an except from the Director's cut here
The Vocal Eyes description of the Duke of Albany is   " Goneril’s husband, the Duke of Albany is a decade or so older than her. Mild-mannered and in portly middle age, his eyes are kindly and his demeanour softens at developing signs of injustice'

Pictures

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2011

Russell, The Swan, National Theatre - Paintframe

Field Commander Goodman, There Is A War, National Theatre - Paintframe

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Double Feature

Four new plays presented by hot new directors in the Paintframe location of the National Theatre. Richard had the part of Russell in Double Feature 1 "The Swan" and Field Commander Goodman in Double Feature 2 "There Is A War". The Paintframe was used as a new space while the Cottesloe underwent refurbishment as the Dorfman Theatre.

Here are two excellent reviews of Richard's performance:
Timeout
London Evening Standard

2010-2011

Max Kellerman, Dirty Dancing, Aldwych Theatre - London

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Theatre Dirty Dancing 2010-2011

Written by Eleanor Bergstein and set in New York in the Summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing chronicles Baby Houseman's coming of age at Kellerman's resort in the Catskill Mountains. Richard played the part Max Kellerman  for the last 18 months at the Aldwych Theatre in London before the show closed and went on tour.

One of the most successful musicals in West End history, Dirty Dancing opened in October 2006 with a record breaking £15 million advance in sales making it the fastest selling show in West End history.  Richard played Max Kellerman, the Catskill Mountains resort owner and friend of Baby's father. Police were actually in the auditorium for second shows on friday and saturday nights to control fans.

Reviews
Dirty Dancing was seen by nearly 2 million people in London, and was the longest running show in the history of the Aldwych Theatre, with critics describing the show as ‘spectacular’, ‘magnificent’ and ‘the biggest live theatre sensation of all time’.
"This pulsating, dynamically choreographed production offers something distinct and more intimate than the celluloid experience..."
Nicholas De Jongh, Evening Standard

'Warm Up' Pictures

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2009

Gabriel York, When The Rain Stops Falling, Almeida Theatre - London

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Richard played the part of Gabriel York, a man who is about to meet the son he abandoned years before. When the Rain Stops Falling is a family saga set in Australia, and skipping from 1959 to 2039 in years.

I found this rather wonderful review of Richard's performance as Gabriel York: WTRSF

Daily Mail 22 May 09

An epic play spanning four generations and two continents, When The Rain Stops Falling moves from the claustrophobia of a 1950s London flat to the windswept coast of Southern Australia and into the heart of the Australian desert.

The play interweaves a series of connected stories, as seven people confront the mysteries of their past in order to understand their future,revealing how patterns of betrayal, love and abandonment are passed on. Until finally, well into the future, as the desert is inundated with rain, one young man finds the courage to defy the legacy.

Clips

See a short video introduction to the play here
Reviews
"Andrew Bovell's new play is not an easy piece, but it's a gripping mystery with emotional depth"

Charles Spencer, Telegraph

2008

The Wanderer and 25 other parts, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, National Theatre - London

The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other is a one-act play without words written by Peter Handke.  The play has 450 characters and focuses on a day in the life of an unspecified town square. Richard had 26 different roles in this one, including the Wanderer. It was first performed in 1992.

Reviews

"Even as a committed text junkie, I find myself moved and exhilarated by this extraordinary piece of epic mime: it offers a panoramic image of human continuity that would be difficult to achieve through words alone"

Michael Billington, The Guardian

Clips

See an introduction the the National Theatre performance here

2008

Freddie Fellowes, Noises Off, Ambassador Theatre Group, UK Tour

One of my personal favorites, Noises Off is a play within a play. The first act is set at dress rehearsal, the night before opening, with the cast still fumbling with exits and entrances, miscues and misspoken lines...and things only go progressively from bad to worse as we follow the shenanigans of the actors from town to town, with all the hilarity going on behind the scenes! Richard got to play the part of Freddie Fellowes.

Nice little review: Noises Off

Pictures