Tamburlaine

By Robert Iles - 12th Oct 2005

Part of the Young Genius season, this Bristol Old Vic/Young Vic/Barbican co-production, directed by David Farr has good credentials. So why doesn't it deliver?

Tamburlaine is Chrisopher Marlowe's play on the great leader who started life as the son of a shepherd and moved on from petty stealing to conquering more of the known world than anyone except Alexander the Great. A ruthless and cruel man but an exceptional leader, Tamburlaine won over cities, countries and armies by force of will as much as force of arms and created a legend of fear based on his willingness to slaughter whole populations to prove a point. An odd sort to be the hero of a play especially as he dies a natural death. When it originally played it was immensely popular and established Marlowe as one of London's leading young playwrights - he even returned, by popular demand, to write Part II.

This three hour (including interval) show fails to work despite the best efforts of the cast of 16. I think that the trouble seems to be that it doesn't really know what it wants to be; traditional and modern dress mix, the buring of the Babylonian library is reduced to some hardbacks, brought in in a wheelbarrow, being chucked into a 'burning' oil drum and a trully B-movie soundtrack. None of these things is bad but the overall effect is bitty, inconsistent and uncomfortable (and I don't mean that in a dramatically good way). The whole directorial style was too static, too much "stand and proclaim". Some cutting of the text to allow the actors to move and flow around the stage would have made for a more enthralling play, less use of lights and smoke and more of movement and life would also have helped - the actors passions were pasted on the words rather than derived from them.

On the edge of my seat? Yes, but only because I was bored and uncomfortable.

Robert Iles