They murdered Marlowe

But in a good way.

The bottom line is: Go see this show. It's an intelligent, entertaining piece with high production values executed by a talented theatre company.


(Caralyn Kozlowski as Emilia and Cedric Hayman as William Shakespeare in "Murdering Marlowe" by Charles Marowitz. Directed by Jason King Jones. Onstage at the Access Theatre from October 11-23, 2005. For tickets, visit www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444. Photo: Brian J. Ruggaber.)

Now, that said, nobody's perfect, right?

What's known, historically, is that Christopher "Kit" Marlowe died in a pub of a knife wound to the eye. The framework this play uses to explain these bare facts is some governmental machinations that take advantage of an weak and insecure fellow artist.

William Shakespeare is portrayed in this work as a great admirer of his good friend Marlowe but who, as an artist, believes that talent and fame are finite in the world and that when one person excels others will feel the lack. To present this man in a small, 4th floor walk-up theatre a couple of blocks below Canal is, well let's say thought provoking for those of us struggling to win a piece of that pie.

Caralyn Kozlowski's Emilia is a shining light in this production. Her performance is well rounded and nicely nuanced with a good sense of both the comedy and the true feeling of her part. Full disclosure, it was a friend of Ms. Kozlowski's who turned me on to this play but I couldn't paint the picture more honestly.

She is closely followed by Tim McGeever as Philip Henslow and Glenn Peters as Marlowe. They each have an ease of manner and command of the diction and flow of the piece that carries you along with them into a world edgily close to our current one. There are varied sexual exploits, judicial interrogation, government intrigue, all that with which we are now achingly familiar.

Jason King Jones's direction focuses rightly on the relationships in the piece which are the meat of the story. A tryst between Marlowe and Emilia is deliciously sweet, exploring the pull of desire and the tart quality of the extramarital affair. Marlowe's seduction of a young orphan, played hysterically by Jeremy Beazlie, is both sexually appealing and somewhat disturbing as Marlowe delights in the discomfort of the younger man. Jones also has a lovely feel for transitions which is unfortunately hampered by the necessities of set and prop movement.

I do have some questions. With the exception of Ms. Kozlowski, the dialects are spotty at best. I wonder if it might not have been fine to have left well enough alone with neutral American accents to keep the distraction to a minimum.

The costumes by Maggie Dick were interesting as well. Marlowe's Superman t-shirt is a nice joke that works beautifully with the play. I also enjoyed the belted Elizabethan-style half-skirts that the women wore over pants and corset tops. However, there was no answering nod to the period in the men's clothing, creating an unfinished feeling to the concept.

Mr. Marowitz's writing is long on emotion, has a solid dose of comedy and gives each character plenty to chew on. He tacks on a loose-end-tying final scene that a thinking audience (which In Actu seemed to have in spades) could probably have done without. Once Marlowe has passed on we might have been better left to our own devices. The insecure, vindictive, unimaginative man Marowitz paints as Shakespeare is certainly potentially valid and an interesting way to look at it. It's not how I, personally, want to remember the playwright, but I can see how it might have been true.

In the final analysis, though, the questions and bobbles are few and far between. The East Coast premiere of Murdering Marlowe is a credit to all involved and you'd do well to catch it while you can - they close on Sunday. Everyone involved has stellar credits behind them and it's a treat to see them up close. I'm sure you'll be seeing them all again.

In Actu Theatre
presents the East Coast Premiere of

Murdering Marlowe

written by Charles Marowitz
directed by Jason King Jones


(Glenn Peters as Christopher Marlowe and Cedric Hayman as William Shakespeare in "Murdering Marlowe" by Charles Marowitz. Directed by Jason King Jones. Onstage at the Access Theatre from October 11-23, 2005. For tickets, visit www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444. Photo: Brian J. Ruggaber.)

with

Cedric Hayman
Patrick Hallahan
Tim McGeever
Mandy Olsen
Caralyn Kozlowski
Glenn Peters
Bryan Cogman
Jeremy Beazlie
Nicholas Coleman

The Access Theatre
380 Broadway, 4th Floor
2 blocks South of Canal Street

Saturday, October 22, 2005 8:00pm
Sunday, October 23, 2005 3:00pm

Tickets $15

for more information visit their web site.