Four centuries and 32 years after Christopher Marlowe’s death, the playwright is getting a West End resurrection alongside William Shakespeare — and Variety has an exclusive first look at the stars bringing this literary rivalry to life.
In a video interview with director Daniel Evans and playwright Liz Duffy Adams, “Doctor Who” star Ncuti Gatwa and “Killing Eve” actor Edward Bluemel discuss “Born With Teeth,” the new play that imagines the creative combustion between Marlowe and William Shakespeare.
The production, opening Aug. 13 at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre, marks the European premiere of Adams’ acclaimed work and represents one of the West End’s most anticipated literary face-offs. Gatwa takes on the controversial Elizabethan dramatist Marlowe, while Bluemel embodies the young Shakespeare in what promises to be the summer’s most intellectually charged theatrical event.
Set in the winter of 1591, the play unfolds across three clandestine meetings where the rival playwrights are forced into creative collaboration amid a climate of conspiracy and paranoia. The timing proves particularly resonant, as May 30 marks exactly 432 years since Marlowe’s death at age 29.
Royal Shakespeare Company co-artistic director Evans returns to the West End following critically acclaimed productions of “Quiz” and “American Buffalo.” Adams makes her U.K. debut with this production.
The production represents a major moment for both lead actors. Gatwa, after his BAFTA-winning turn in “Sex Education” and his current stint as the 15th Doctor, tackles his most theatrically ambitious role to date. In the interview, he describes how the script brought the historical figures to life: “It suddenly felt like these two iconic figures that we know from our past and see in the distance was like real and jumping off the page, which was very exciting.”
Gatwa’s Marlowe is “London’s leading playwright” at the time of the play, a “huge star” who has “written some blockbuster plays like ‘Tamburlaine.’” The actor captures Marlowe’s appetite for experience, noting how his character “wants to rampage through life.”
Bluemel, who gained widespread recognition in “Killing Eve” and recently starred in Netflix’s “My Lady Jane,” says Shakespeare at the time was “a bit of an ingenue. He’s up and coming. He hasn’t found his like true fame yet, and he’s awe of Marlowe, and fascinated by Marlowe, and it’s like he’s meeting a celebrity.”
The dynamic between the characters drives the drama. “What’s amazing about this play and Will’s journey through it is his hero worship of Marlowe influences him,” Bluemel says. While both are talented writers, Shakespeare “wants to write, to make money and to live and to exist in a very, very scary world to exist in and just keep himself and his family safe.”
Bluemel hopes audiences will “experience a richly layered play that’s like a whirlwind of sexuality, of genuine danger, push and pull between these two characters and this complete power play.”
Presented by Playful Productions, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Elizabeth Williams, “Born With Teeth” runs for a strictly limited 11-week season through Nov. 1. The production features design by Olivier Award-winner Joanna Scotcher and lighting by Tony and Olivier Award-winner Neil Austin.
Watch the video here:
variety.com
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