Tamburlaine
by Christopher Marlowe
Directed by Tim Paige
Bell Shakespeare returns to Melbourne to present our lively script reading series. In a Play In A Day first, the cast of our mainstage production Henry 5 will stand script-in-hand to perform Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine (1587) directed by Tim Paige and with an introduction by Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, David McInnis.
Once a shepherd, turned to banditry, Tamburlaine dreams of becoming king of the world. Through unrivalled cruelty, military skill and supernatural good luck, Tamburlaine defeats every army and overthrows every monarch he meets.
Tamburlaine is perhaps the boldest, most daring and startlingly original play of the entire early modern period. It contains some of the most majestic and beautiful verse as well as some of the most profoundly shocking material the Elizabethan stage had seen — and most shocking of all, Tamburlaine's stirring rhetoric and flexible morality influenced Shakespeare's depiction of Henry V.
Thursday 8 May, 6.30pm
Science Gallery, University of Melbourne
Tickets: $50
Presented in partnership with the University of Melbourne.
