Review: BORN WITH TEETH at Asolo Reperatory Theater

Born with Teeth premiered in May 2022 and has been making the rounds! Born with Teeth has won a number of awards, including best new play and best actors from Houston’s Theater Awards and the Edgerton Foundation.

In 1590’s London, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare meet in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle over a span of about 2 years. Between the collaborating, competing, and highly charged sexual tension we see the creative process that could have happened to inspire either of them. Written by Liz Duffy Adams, the play is presented as historical fiction with a twist of humor, sometimes intertwining the two to make you wonder what is true and what is not!

Matthew Amendt depicts Christopher “Kit” Marlowe as outrageously flamboyant, and quite fallen by the conclusion. When he is first presented, he is literally dazzling in finery, in a shining glittery costume that peels off slowly until the end of the play where all his dazzle is gone, figuratively as well as literally. The exhibitionism and delinquency of Kit is what drives this play forward and creates the action. We wonder does Shakespeare owe Kit by pushing him down and rising to the top? Is there a direct correlation?

Shakespeare, played by Dylan Godwin, shows up as a meek tattered writer, shy and reserved and daunted by working with the “great” Christopher Marlowe. By the end of the play Shakespeare has taken heed of Kit’s words, turned them against him and risen to the top. His costume by the last act is larger than life, opulent and ominous.

Even with this one symbolic minor fact, you dear reader, can excerpt the conundrum of what this play is presenting.

This and so much more is presented within this story that after watching I had so many more questions! The mystery of these two outrageously talented writers, that the tenants of all English majors and writers thereafter was built upon has so many points of view. I found out that this scenario could have occurred, as the First Folio works of Shakespeare such as Henry VI and Titus Andronicus were attributed to Marlowe until the 1920s. Key Shakespeare plays are re-workings of earlier Marlowe plays. Shakespeare quotes (and refers to) Marlowe throughout the canon.

I would strongly suggest that before attending this play that you brush up on your Shakespeare(wink, wink) and Marlowe, as if you aren’t familiar with their works some of the lines of this play will elude you. This little bit of recreational reading will significantly enhance your experience.

Born with Teeth is playing at Asolo Repertory Theatre through March 29th with Matinee and Evening Shows. Born With Teeth | Asolo Repertory Theatre

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