If you think a show about two English poets hanging around talking means you’ll see a couple of effete gentlemen lounging on settees sipping tea, you couldn’t be more wrong.
In Richmond Shakespeare’s bracing and brilliant “Born With Teeth,” books are hurled, papers shredded, furniture overturned, and, ultimately, punches thrown. These raucous goings-on are a physical manifestation of an emotional battle that features seduction, intimidation, espionage and betrayal.
The combatants in this fight are the most celebrated writer of the early 1590s, Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (played by Avery Michael Johnson), and a young upstart, William Shakespeare (James Murphy). The vain and mercurial Kit has apparently acquiesced to collaborating with the neophyte Will on a history play about Henry VI.
But in a politically charged Britain ruled by the aging Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, being accused of loyalty to the Pope could be a death sentence. Young Will, a suspected Catholic, quickly finds himself wondering whether he’s going to be Kit’s creative partner or a pawn in a complicated game of trading favors between Kit’s powerful friends.
Playwright Liz Duffy Adams shows a special genius in constructing this epic tête-à-tête, assembling the few historical crumbs available into a believable, if fully fabricated, thriller. On the heels of plays like “Doctor Faustus,” Marlowe was indeed the toast of England but he was also a notorious brawler and suspected spy. He was killed in 1593, reportedly in a knife fight.
At the time, Shakespeare was still emerging and little is known about his activities before he arrived in London in 1592, but it is thought he did collaborate with Marlowe.
Running 90 minutes without intermission, the play presents three meetings between the writers over a couple of years, the power dynamics between them shifting in subtle ways with each encounter. And while there’s lots of sparring, there are also acerbic debates, hilarious asides, and surprising sexual tension.
Director Andrew Gall has wisely made full use of the flexible Gottwald Playhouse stage. The action takes place around and atop one long table wedged between two sections of seating so that front-row patrons are often face-to-face with the actors (scenic design by W. Reed West III). The proximity makes the ongoing brawls and unexpected embraces that much more impactful.
Both of the dynamic young actors driving this story forward are VCU grads and a tribute to the deep well of local talent. Johnson hits the stage like a tornado, projecting the volatile energy of a brilliant artist bent on squeezing maximum amounts of juice out of life. But he also manages to layer in pathos and sensitivity as the precarity of his situation escalates.
Murphy has the tricky job of portraying an introverted genius coming into his own, both creatively and strategically. He succeeds by ever-so-slowly revealing the raffish grin that lies behind his obstinate, work-obsessed facade.
While all of the technical elements effectively support the proceedings, intimacy choreographer Lucinda McDermott deserves special recognition for making interactions that fluctuate wildly from aggressive to affectionate always seem genuine.
The program for “Born With Teeth” includes helpful bios of Marlowe and Shakespeare plus insightful director’s notes for those who want to connect the factual dots. That’s welcome background material for the history nerds; everyone else can simply relish a slice of the past made vigorously and vibrantly real.
“Born With Teeth” is playing on the Gottwald Playhouse stage in the Dominion Energy Center, 600 E Grace Street, through Feb. 11. Tickets and information available at https://richmondshakespeare.org/.
