Born With Teeth at Wyndham’s Theatre Review
Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bleumel in Born With Teeth. Photo by Johan Persson
Written by Annie for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Elizabeth Duffy’s two-hander play, starring two of the most currently admired stars of the small screen Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who, Sex Education) and Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve, Sex Education) - explores the fabricated relationship between the two greatest writers of the Elizabethan era, if not ever.
It’s long been debated if William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe collaborated on Shakespeare’s histories, and Duffy uses the perhaps most recognised work, Henry VI, as the basis for her play, and also where the title gets its name from. We explore the relationship between the two writers and how impactful they really were on one another, whilst understanding the societal pressures surrounding them.
Whilst the concept is most interesting, the play struggles to make any real impact. Hoping for a play in which concepts and pressures were challenged, the focus is more on the dialogue and interaction of the two leads. Whilst Duffy has littered the text with an abundance of Shakespearean quotes, enough to make any fan feel suitably chuffed, the play sadly remains at the surface level of any themes or challenges it brings up. Making many parallels between Elizabethan England and to present day, the show feels current whilst remaining honest to its era. However, despite the cleverness of these parallels, they are often left undeveloped and float off into the abyss.
What Duffy does succeed in is the relationship between the two leads - despite much being fabrications of the truth, we quickly are drawn into the working and personal sphere of Shakespeare and Marlowe. The art of seduction is a recurrent theme - both with Marlowe trying to seduce Shakespeare in private, and also to join him as a spy for Robert Cecil, we gain great context for the challenges faced in their era. It gives height to the play and ensures a neat pace. Although some of the dialogue is overly gimmicky in an attempt to remain current, which makes it difficult to keep focused on the story, the extremely successful scenes are those of this seductive nature. Duffy brilliantly explores this side of the two bards’ relationship - and Gatwa & Bluemel perform with honest comfort it really draws you back into the story.
Gatwa is as self-assured as you’d hope in this role - they brilliantly perform as Marlowe, bringing much-needed dynamics to the play and beautifully exploring the complexities of their character. As lovable as he is reckless, Marlowe is a colourful character in the play, and Gatwa explores the breadth of the role with pure talent.
Bluemel brings a more muted yet no less powerful depiction to Shakespeare, wonderfully narrating the scene changes; his performance is incredibly interesting. A seemingly unassured expression of Shakespeare who metamorphoses into a complex and confused figure, downtrodden by his society. Bluemel performs with brilliant power and matches Gatwa’s performance with rivaled talent.
Daniel Evans directs the duo, bringing Duffy’s script of verbal jousting to life. The beautiful battle of wit and words is cleverly explored and given great colour by Evans. Joanna Scotcher’s set and costumes bring Elizabethan themes into the 21st century with sexy but classic designs. It creates ambiguity in which time period the play is set in, keeping it current and interesting.
Matched with Neil Austin’s lighting designs - reminiscent of his other shows currently playing in the West End, they surround the performances, powerfully adding tension to the plot. However, the height of the play also brings the brightest lights, which are overly bright, leaving the audience forced to turn away and a little uncomfortable. Andrzej Goudling’s videography is incredibly powerful and creates added tension and anguish to the play, and keeps interest amongst scene changes in an incredibly impactful way.
Overall, Duffy’s play is an enjoyable watch. Despite knowing where the play will end, the enjoyment comes from the performances on display. There are some real moments of genius, but sadly the script feels like a work in progress, and seems like there is room to develop ideas much further. Interest and focus is at times a struggle to keep, but the top-shelf performances from Gatwa and Bluemel are an utter pleasure to witness.
Born with Teeth plays at Wyndham’s Theatre until 1 November.
★★★
