James Udom in Tamburlaine

In December I made my way to Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, where James Udom was acting in a rare production of Tamburlaine.

James is a marvelous actor who - lucky me! - played the lead role of "Freddy" in the premiere of my play Scamoramaland and is now being kept busy playing classical parts in New York City. It was  satisfying to see him on a big stage, where he deserves to be seen.

He plays the oldest son of the manic Tamburlaine, who is bent on conquering everything and everybody. Daddy loves him until he loses his taste for war.

The production uses minimal staging, and a percussionist.  It's long and grueling and absorbing, with many piercingly well-played characters and striking stage effects.

John Douglas Thompson - Tamburlaine - is an actor of huge energy,  completely convincing as a volatile warlord with the world's biggest chip on his shoulder, a man whose reality distortion field makes friends or lovers of all who submit, as long as they submit, or until he decides to throw them away. In modern society he might be called manic-depressive. In his world he's simply a force of nature.