Tamburlaine, and: Edward II (review)

Although the Oxford English Dictionary dates the common definition of “stereotype” only to 1922, such “preconceived and oversimplified idea[s] of the characteristics which typify a person, situation, etc.” are certainly much older. In the theatre, broadly defined and easily recognized “stock characters” can be traced to the beginnings of the art form, and when these quickly drawn figures accrue a little ideological dirt in the form of the ethnic, religious, sexual, or gender biases that authors, actors, and audiences may read into a role, “type” slides easily into “stereotype.” Ancient Greece, therefore, seems home both to the concept of the stereotype and to the constituent parts of the compound word: “stereo,” originally denoting something “solid,” and “type,” initially meaning to “beat” or “strike.” Only later would the solidity of “stereo” split to give us a prefix meaning “dual,” while “type” came to mean an exemplar of a group’s ideal qualities. “Stereo” and “type” have evolved through time, but the basic notion of “stereotype,” a seemingly “solid” idea “beaten” into the minds of audiences through repetition, has stayed intact. Different stereotypes have emerged and disappeared as cultures collided, but stereotypes, in general, have stubbornly withstood the assaults of culturally sensitive playwrights, practitioners, and playgoers to persist on classical and contemporary stages.

An understanding of the common definition of “stereotype” and the variant meanings of the word’s constituent elements is key to the following critique of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC’s) recent revival of two Marlovian masterpieces. The STC’s “Marlowe Repertory” was both exceptional and highly anticipated, marking not just the first time the high-profile company had produced Marlowe, but also the opening of the Sidney Harman Center, a beautiful new arts complex with a flexible performance space and an extraordinary three-storied, glass-fronted lobby affording patrons a view of the cityscape below and passers-by a glimpse into the teeming portal to the home of the self-styled “leading force in the presentation and preservation of classic theatre.” In choosing to open his new theatre with Marlowe, STC artistic director Michael Kahn made a bold statement, audaciously staking a claim for his Washington D.C.-based company to become a sort of national theatre by linking himself to Peter Hall, whose own production of Tamburlaine opened England’s Royal National Theatre in London in 1976. Kahn went Hall one better by presenting his inaugural Marlowe in “stereo”: Kahn...