Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh to explore societal prejudices by playing Richard III

The play will reflect on the actor’s childhood in the Cotswolds in the 1960s and 70s. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

Was Richard III inherently evil? Or was he othered, excluded and pathologised because of societal prejudices? What happens when the person who has been punched down, punches up?

These are the questions Adjoa Andoh will ask when she steps into the shoes of one of Shakespeare’s most notorious villains, who deceived and murdered anyone who stood in his path to becoming king of England.