Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, described by former Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd as “an urgent play for our time”, is to be produced in the Swan Theatre, Stratford.
Boyd who directs the production has adapted the two original parts into one play. He said he admired the plays’ “giddy but taut” construction.
“I see part two as a genuine and radical development beyond part one. That said, I’ve edited the plays quite tightly to bring them down to one evening of no more than three hours' playing time.
“I’ve also rationalised the huge cast of characters into a smaller number of recognisable, returning people who ‘survive’ their deaths to challenge and pursue the seemingly invincible Tamburlaine with ever-increasing authority and resonance.
“At any time, Tamburlaine remains one of the great plays of the English Renaissance and I don’t know why it’s rarely produced. Perhaps it offers a portrait which the English have preferred not to recognise. The play retains its power to shock more than 400 years after it was written.”
The title role is played by Jude Owusu. He appeared as Lopakhin in Boyd’s production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at Bristol Old Vic earlier in 2018. He was previously at the RSC in 2012 when he played Cinna the poet in Gregory Doran’s Julius Caesar.
The cast of Tamburlaine also includes Salman Akhtar (Magnetes / Capolin / Amyras), Sagar I M Arya (Bajazeth / Trebizon), Raj Bajaj (Ceneus / Argier / Calyphas), Shamia Chalabi (Persian courtier / Natolian messenger), James Clyde (Menaphon / Morocco / Jerusalem), Anton Cross (Celebinus / Persian soldier), Ralph Davis (Agydas / Arabia / Orcanes), Ross Green (Ortygius / Frederick / Tunis / captain), Mark Hadfied (Mycetes / Soldan / Almeda / Amasia), Zainab Hasan (Anippe / Olympia), Naveed Khan (soldier), Debbie Korley (Zabina / Syria), Rosy McEwen (Zenocrate / Callapine), Sam Pay (Mycetes’ spy / Persian soldier), Riad L Richie (Usumcasane), David Rubin (Techelles), Vivienne Smith (Persian courtier / Ebea / first virgin), David Sturzaker (Cosroe / Fez / Sigismund), Yasmin Taheri (Persian courtier / second virgin), James Tucker (Meander / Basso / Baldwin / Perdicas) and Edmund Wiseman (Theridamas).
Designer is Tom Piper, lighting is by Colin Grenfell with sound by Claire Windsor and music by James Jones. Movement is by Liz Ranken and fights are by Terry King.
Tamburlaine plays in the Swan Theatre, Stratford from Thursday 16 August until Saturday 1 December. Press night will be Thursday 23 August.