Ambition. Subjugation. Immortality. Yellow Earth Theatre presents Christopher Marlowe’s thrilling, controversial, and at times darkly comical story of Tamburlaine, the Scythian shepherd who rises to power through violence to conquer Central Asia, the Middle East, and half of Europe.

An all-women company play Tamburlaine, his friends, his enemies, and his sons, travelling to the heart of identity and power, and challenging the nature masculinity and violence. What makes a king? What makes a father? What makes a man? In a play filled with princesses, wives, and sacrificial virgins, what forms of power can women wield in the face of oppression and war?

In the modern world, where chemical weapons and reckless referendums are means to cling on to power; where retaliatory air strikes are applauded as strength; where social justice is a luxury that must give way to economic expansionism; Tamburlaine will hold a mirror up to the cruelties within ourselves.

Marlowe is known as the father of English tragedy. But his radical ideas of history, religion, morality, and poetic justice will be provocative to those familiar with Shakespeare. Even his later play, Doctor Faustus, will be considered tame compared to Tamburlaine, which questions the very meaning of theatre, and whether it should console or disrupt.

“Enjoyable, heartfelt show made with love and acted with real vigour” - The Guardian on YET’s Limehouse Project