FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY'S PRODUCTION OF TAMBURLAINE
Issued: 4 June 2018
TAMBURLAINE
By Christopher Marlowe
Edited and directed by Michael Boyd
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 16 August -1 December 2018
Press night: Thursday 23 August, 7pm
Box Office: 01789 403493, www.rsc.org.uk
Full casting is announced for Tamburlaine which plays in repertoire in the Swan theatre from 16 August.
Michael Boyd has adapted the original two parts of Marlowe’s play and also directs the show which was originally staged in New York for Theater For a New Audience (TFANA) in 2014, but which has been rethought for the RSC and the Swan Theatre.
Michael was the RSC’s Artistic Director from 2002 – 2012 and directed a huge range of productions including the Olivier award-winning cycle of Shakespeare’s History plays as well as Macbeth, As You Like It, The Grain Store, Hamlet, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, The Spanish Tragedy and The Broken Heart. For the Tron Theatre, Glasgow where he was Founding Artistic Director his work includes The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Crow, Macbeth, The Guid Sisters, The Real Wurld. Other theatre work includes Miss Julie (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Right Now (Traverse/Royal Bath/Bush theatre), The Big Meal and The Open House (Ustinov studio, Bath) and The Cherry Orchard (Bristol Old Vic). His opera work includes Orfeo (Roundhouse/ROH) and Eugene Onegin (Garsington). He was knighted for services to drama in 2012.
The title role is played by Jude Owusu. Jude recently appeared as Lopakhin in Boyd’s production of The Cherry Orchard at the Bristol Old Vic and prior to that his work includes A Tale of Two Cities (Regent’s Park Open Air), Jeramee, Hartleby and Ooglemoore (Unicorn), Much Ado About Nothing (Faction theatre), Othello (Malachite theatre company) and Romeo and Juliet (TNT Theatre International). He was previously at the RSC in 2012/13 when he played Cinna the Poet in Gregory Doran’s Julius Caesar, and also appeared in Tim Crouch’s interactive one man show I, Cinna. His TV work includes Father Brown, Holby City and The Hollow Crown.
The cast also includes Salman Akhtar (Magnetes/Capolin/Amyras), Sagar I M Arya (Bajazeth/Trebizon), Raj Bajaj (Ceneus/Argier/Calyphas), Shamia Chalabi (Persian Courtier),James Clyde (Menaphon/Morocco/Jerusalem), Anton Cross (Persian Courtier/Bajazeth Lord/Soldier/Celebinus), Ralph Davis (Agydas/Arabia/Orcanes),Ross Green (Ortygius/Tunis/Captain),Mark Hadfied (Mycetes/Soldan/Almeda/Amasia), Zainab Hasan (Anippe/Olympia), Naveed Khan (Soldier), Debbie Korley (Zabina/Soria),Rosy McEwen (Zenocrate/Callapine), Sam Pay (Soldier),Riad L Richie (Usumcasane),David Rubin (Techelles),Vivienne Smith (Ebea/First Virgin), David Sturzaker (Cosroe/Fez/Sigismund/Governor of Babylon),Yasmin Taheri (Second Virgin), James Tucker (Meander/Basso/Governor of Damascus/Baldwin/Perdicas), Edmund Wiseman (Theridamas).
Michael said of the production:
“We had a lot of success with Tamburlaine in New York, so it wasn’t a straightforward decision to revisit the play for the RSC, but in the end I felt that the world and our understanding of the nature of tyranny have changed so much since 2014 that we will have no choice but to reread the play anew for a contemporary audience.
We are living now through a time when angry rhetoric, and determined, self-dramatising men hold increasing sway over our lives. The received wisdoms of western liberal democracy can look weak and even moribund when faced with the strong men of the American, Russian, and Chinese Right. In this context Tamburlaine seems to be an urgent play for our time.”
The set and costumes are designed by Tom Piper. Tom was previously Associate Designer at the RSC where he collaborated on designing over 30 of Boyd’s shows including winning the Olivier award for the Design of the Histories cycle. His huge range of work recently includes Erica Whyman’s current RSC productions of Romeo and Juliet and Miss Littlewood as well as Boyd’s The Cherry Orchard (Bristol), The Open House (Bath) and Rhinoceros (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh).
He designed the internationally renowned, multi award-winning 2014 installation of poppies at the Tower of London – Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red (original concept by Paul Cummins) which continues to tour across the UK in sculptural iterations The Wave and The Weeping Window. He was awarded an MBE for services to theatre in 2014.
The 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.
Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact Philippa.harland@rsc.org.uk 020 7845 0512
For press tickets please contact dean.asker@rsc.org.uk 01789 412660
To book tickets call 01789 403493 or online at www.rsc.org.uk
https://www.rsc.org.uk/tamburlaine/about-the-play/who-was-christopher-marlowe
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION and THE KOVNER FOUNDATION
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