The West End is about to set tongues wagging with one of the most provocative takes on William Shakespeare ever staged.
Born With Teeth - starring Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa as Christopher Marlowe and Sex Education’s Edward Bluemel as the Bard – will depict the legendary playwrights as rivals who “duel and flirt like their lives depend on it” during three clandestine 1591 tavern meetings.
Producer Elizabeth Williams promises a “dark, sexy” reimagining of their relationship, with Gatwa teasing: “Liz Duffy Adams has written an exceptional play that is smart, dark, sexy, sharp and funny! There’s a lot to get one’s teeth into.”
But behind the theatrical fireworks lies one of history’s most enduring literary mysteries. Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The Illustrated and Updated Edition confirms the frustrating lack of concrete evidence about their relationship.
We know Marlowe dominated London theatre when Shakespeare arrived, with his 1587 smash Tamburlaine the Great revolutionising English drama.
By 1591 – when Born With Teeth is set – Marlowe had cemented his reputation with Doctor Faustus, while Shakespeare was still known for lighter comedies like The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
The play’s suggestion of collaboration finds some basis in fact. As Bryson notes: “Playwrights frequently worked together in Elizabethan London’s cutthroat theatre scene.”
This aligns with Bluemel’s observation about the script: “I was instantly drawn into the high-stakes world of these two rival playwrights and the incredible, creative chemistry they share.”
Yet the romantic angle proves more contentious. While Marlowe faced accusations of “atheism” and “unnatural” behaviour, there’s no evidence Shakespeare reciprocated any attraction. Their sole documented connection is sharing the Earl of Southampton as patron.
The play intersects with genuine historical mysteries. Marlowe’s 1593 death in a Deptford tavern – officially over a bill dispute, but long suspected to be assassination – coincided with Shakespeare’s artistic ascent.
This timing fuels conspiracy theories, including the claim Marlowe faked his death to write Shakespeare’s works. As Bryson documents, Calvin Hoffman had Thomas Walsingham’s tomb opened in 1956 seeking proof, finding nothing.
RSC co-artistic director Daniel Evans, making his directorial debut with the production, acknowledges the speculation: “We’re exploring the electricity that might have existed between these two geniuses, not writing a documentary.”
Gatwa’s promise that this is “like no version of Shakespeare and Marlowe that I’ve ever seen before” suggests bold reinterpretation rather than historical fidelity.
For theatregoers, the real fascination may lie in how Born With Teeth holds a mirror to our own era's obsessions.
As RSC artistic director Greg Doran observes: "Every generation reinvents Shakespeare in its own image. The Victorians made him respectable; we want him dangerous and sexy."
The play's "ferociously sexy" approach follows recent trends like the National Theatre's Straight Line Crazy (which reimagined urban planner Robert Moses as a rock star) and Hamilton's hip-hop history lessons.
This production arrives amid renewed scholarly interest in Marlowe, with Oxford University Press publishing a major new biography next month that re-examines his spy career.
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The production promises to be one of the summer's hottest tickets, not just for its star power but for how it taps into our endless fascination with Shakespeare's mysteries.
As Williams notes: "What Liz has captured is that moment when two extraordinary artists collide - whether it happened exactly this way hardly matters."
As Williams notes: “Our playwright seems to have channelled directly from the 1590s this story of the intersection of the contemporary lives of these two great poets.”
Four centuries later, the Marlowe-Shakespeare mystery continues to captivate – and now, to steam up the West End.
Born With Teeth will play at Wyndham's Theatre for a strictly limited 11-week season until Saturday 1 November, with a first preview on Wednesday 13 August. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 16 April 2025 with priority booking from Friday 11 April. For more information visit BornWithTeethPlay.com
