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Born With Teeth
'"O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!"
And so was I, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite, play the dog.'
Henry VI, Part 3
Christopher Marlowe – rockstar of Elizabethan theatre and notorious spy for the Crown – danger and seduction combined. William Shakespeare – jobbing actor and promising young playwright – dazzled by Marlowe, but with ambitions of his own.
When the pair meet in the backroom of a pub to collaborate on a cycle of history plays, tensions rise as they navigate the perils of art under an oppressive regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose…
An explosively entertaining duel of wits, words and powerplay, Liz Duffy Adams's Born With Teeth is a playful and daring imagining of the relationship between two literary icons. The play was first performed in Houston, Texas, in 2022, where it won several major awards. In 2025, it received its European premiere at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End, produced by Playful Productions, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Grain of Sand Productions, directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans, and starring Ncuti Gatwa as Kit and Edward Bluemel as Will.
And so was I, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite, play the dog.'
Henry VI, Part 3
Christopher Marlowe – rockstar of Elizabethan theatre and notorious spy for the Crown – danger and seduction combined. William Shakespeare – jobbing actor and promising young playwright – dazzled by Marlowe, but with ambitions of his own.
When the pair meet in the backroom of a pub to collaborate on a cycle of history plays, tensions rise as they navigate the perils of art under an oppressive regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose…
An explosively entertaining duel of wits, words and powerplay, Liz Duffy Adams's Born With Teeth is a playful and daring imagining of the relationship between two literary icons. The play was first performed in Houston, Texas, in 2022, where it won several major awards. In 2025, it received its European premiere at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End, produced by Playful Productions, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Grain of Sand Productions, directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans, and starring Ncuti Gatwa as Kit and Edward Bluemel as Will.
88 pages, Paperback
Published August 28, 2025
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October 6, 2025“It is madmen like us who reinvent the world, when no one is noticing. Will you?”
I have very complicated feelings about this play, and I’ll be transparent in the fact that they’re shaped by my introduction to the work having first encountered it through its west end performance.
Wit is at the heart of this work. It is not only easily summed up as a collision of early modern England’s greatest wits and wills but is just really witty on its own. Shakespeare and Marlowe are well-characterized foils, their personalities and the friction between them filling the pages so utterly that the play feels almost over-populated with just the two. (And as it turns out, it is just that.) Marlowe is agile and intimidating, circling a clever and nimble yet wary Shakespeare like prey. They are ferocious and passionate and brilliant characters, both honoring their historical counterparts and crafting an entirely new tension-filled, utterly electrifying dynamic.
Adams’ allusions and references are apt and sharp, funny and impressive to early modernists such as myself. There’s always the fear, in fictional works about Shakespeare (I was going to say early modern dramatists, but let’s be honest, Shakespeare), that they won’t really understand the culture’s nuances of the time, instead feeding into the 18th-century-made image of the bard before his time. But this was a damn well-researched play, and was far more historically accurate than I anticipated (though not always chronologically accurate, which is fine. I’d rather the Beaumont and Fletcher joke be in there than lose it for the fact that they didn’t emerge in the scene until after Marlowe’s death.)
The structure and themes are also incredibly smart and well saturated. Unfortunately, these were completely over my head in the stage version and am glad I decided to read the text to understand what I missed. I love that here, Shakespeare is the storyteller, the Horatio to Kit’s Hamlet, the mind and mouth that literally and figuratively shapes the narrative with his words. This is, yes, a Shakespeare/Marlowe fanfiction, but it is also a play about the way two seemingly different, but actually very similar, men learn to survive in the dog-eat-dog climate of a surveillance state. It’s about faith and about anxieties and about how crisis can make or break faith and anxiety into something all-consuming. And it’s incredibly relevant and timely; I think most readers will see parts of our world in Adams’ early modern England.
Though this play is incredibly smart, I find its emotionality lacking support. Its dialogue is unbelievably beautiful, and there are these really intense load-bearing emotional lines that feel disjointed from the rest of the play. And though those lines were very moving, beautiful emotional lines require, nay, deserve, the narrative foreplay to let them reach their greatest potential, whereas Adams seems to expect the lines on their own to do that work. And I think the crux of this is that the play spends a lot of time allowing these two characters to sharpen their teeth on each other, clarifying their own characters rather than defining the space between them, and by the end of the play, I still struggled to articulate what they meant to each other, really.
But this really is, overall, a great play. It’s damn funny, it’s metatheatrical, it’s urgent, it’s historically inoffensive, it’s smart as all hell, and it’s beautifully horny. I WILL be going back literally tonight to go see it again.
I have very complicated feelings about this play, and I’ll be transparent in the fact that they’re shaped by my introduction to the work having first encountered it through its west end performance.
Wit is at the heart of this work. It is not only easily summed up as a collision of early modern England’s greatest wits and wills but is just really witty on its own. Shakespeare and Marlowe are well-characterized foils, their personalities and the friction between them filling the pages so utterly that the play feels almost over-populated with just the two. (And as it turns out, it is just that.) Marlowe is agile and intimidating, circling a clever and nimble yet wary Shakespeare like prey. They are ferocious and passionate and brilliant characters, both honoring their historical counterparts and crafting an entirely new tension-filled, utterly electrifying dynamic.
Adams’ allusions and references are apt and sharp, funny and impressive to early modernists such as myself. There’s always the fear, in fictional works about Shakespeare (I was going to say early modern dramatists, but let’s be honest, Shakespeare), that they won’t really understand the culture’s nuances of the time, instead feeding into the 18th-century-made image of the bard before his time. But this was a damn well-researched play, and was far more historically accurate than I anticipated (though not always chronologically accurate, which is fine. I’d rather the Beaumont and Fletcher joke be in there than lose it for the fact that they didn’t emerge in the scene until after Marlowe’s death.)
The structure and themes are also incredibly smart and well saturated. Unfortunately, these were completely over my head in the stage version and am glad I decided to read the text to understand what I missed. I love that here, Shakespeare is the storyteller, the Horatio to Kit’s Hamlet, the mind and mouth that literally and figuratively shapes the narrative with his words. This is, yes, a Shakespeare/Marlowe fanfiction, but it is also a play about the way two seemingly different, but actually very similar, men learn to survive in the dog-eat-dog climate of a surveillance state. It’s about faith and about anxieties and about how crisis can make or break faith and anxiety into something all-consuming. And it’s incredibly relevant and timely; I think most readers will see parts of our world in Adams’ early modern England.
Though this play is incredibly smart, I find its emotionality lacking support. Its dialogue is unbelievably beautiful, and there are these really intense load-bearing emotional lines that feel disjointed from the rest of the play. And though those lines were very moving, beautiful emotional lines require, nay, deserve, the narrative foreplay to let them reach their greatest potential, whereas Adams seems to expect the lines on their own to do that work. And I think the crux of this is that the play spends a lot of time allowing these two characters to sharpen their teeth on each other, clarifying their own characters rather than defining the space between them, and by the end of the play, I still struggled to articulate what they meant to each other, really.
But this really is, overall, a great play. It’s damn funny, it’s metatheatrical, it’s urgent, it’s historically inoffensive, it’s smart as all hell, and it’s beautifully horny. I WILL be going back literally tonight to go see it again.
September 18, 2025
4.5, rounded up.
Although this premiered in '22 (in Texas, of all places), it is just now getting due attention, through a starry RSC production currently a commercial hit on the West End. The reviews, however, have been somewhat mixed, extolling the two actors, yet finding the script a bit lacking. I put that down to sour grapes nationalistic xenophobia - had this had the name Stoppard or Hare attached as author, they'd be proclaiming it the play of the year. Sorry, but brilliant performances are simply NOT given in mediocre plays.
Duffy Adams creates two fascinating, albeit probably NOT 100% historically accurate, characters out of playwrights Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare. The two are collaborating on the Henry VI trilogy (which has recently been corroborated), while dancing around issues of their relative fame, legacies, politics, religious freedom, and some flirtatious banter.
Marlowe has long been acknowledged as primarily homosexual, and Will undoubtedly showed some such tendencies in his love sonnets, so that cannot be faulted. The reviews have applauded the sexiness and chemistry between the two London leads, but seem to have wanted even more - I think the balance is exactly right, and Duffy does capture an Elizabethan flavor in her dialogues without going full iambic pentameter on us (except for some late quotations from the actual Henry VI, Pt. 3).
Hopefully the London production will encourage other mountings of the script, as I'd love to see this performed.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/thea...
https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/revie...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/w...
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/r...
https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/bor...
https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6k8r...
Although this premiered in '22 (in Texas, of all places), it is just now getting due attention, through a starry RSC production currently a commercial hit on the West End. The reviews, however, have been somewhat mixed, extolling the two actors, yet finding the script a bit lacking. I put that down to sour grapes nationalistic xenophobia - had this had the name Stoppard or Hare attached as author, they'd be proclaiming it the play of the year. Sorry, but brilliant performances are simply NOT given in mediocre plays.
Duffy Adams creates two fascinating, albeit probably NOT 100% historically accurate, characters out of playwrights Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare. The two are collaborating on the Henry VI trilogy (which has recently been corroborated), while dancing around issues of their relative fame, legacies, politics, religious freedom, and some flirtatious banter.
Marlowe has long been acknowledged as primarily homosexual, and Will undoubtedly showed some such tendencies in his love sonnets, so that cannot be faulted. The reviews have applauded the sexiness and chemistry between the two London leads, but seem to have wanted even more - I think the balance is exactly right, and Duffy does capture an Elizabethan flavor in her dialogues without going full iambic pentameter on us (except for some late quotations from the actual Henry VI, Pt. 3).
Hopefully the London production will encourage other mountings of the script, as I'd love to see this performed.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/thea...
https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/revie...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/w...
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/r...
https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/bor...
https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6k8r...
September 22, 2025
4.5 rounded up.
such a delight, cannot wait to see it again
such a delight, cannot wait to see it again
November 2, 2025
So many great lines, was going to quote but won’t be a prick! The good news is I can read!!!!
September 11, 2025
My god, I fear it's perfect.
Here's a breakdown of each of the stars:
The first star is for all of the details I noticed on my second read, which I hadn't noticed before.
The second star is for making me laugh out loud reading the text after already seeing it with my own two eyes.
The third star is for when I saw it with my own two eyes (Ncuti and Edward, the men that you are).
The fourth star is exclusively for the stage direction: "KIT gets sexy up on him. WILL is into it." True poetry.
The fifth star is for the combination of real high stakes and hypnotising sexual tension. I could read these two characters interacting for the rest of my life and be quite content.
I cannot quite articulate how this play has everything. The character writing is masterclass. The context is a character within itself, constantly looming over the pair, refusing to leave them in peace. Once they meet for the first time, you can feel the clock ticking on them both. Liz Duffy Adams creates a forced proximity in which not both can survive for long.
The MOTIFS, the CALLBACKS, the shear BANTS of it all. I can't cope GUYS.
There are so many quotes in here that I will not stop rereading until I'm in my literal grave.
"Forgiveness, absolution, death and resurrection, love lost and found - its all we can do, all of us grievous grieving souls, forever willing our immortal longings into whatever being our pitiful powers may. Oh Kit. You should have died hereafter, you should have lived."
Honourable mention: "Ineffable. There's nothing I can't eff."
I am done now. I don't know how I will ever read again.
All five stars and throw in a few more if possible.
Here's a breakdown of each of the stars:
The first star is for all of the details I noticed on my second read, which I hadn't noticed before.
The second star is for making me laugh out loud reading the text after already seeing it with my own two eyes.
The third star is for when I saw it with my own two eyes (Ncuti and Edward, the men that you are).
The fourth star is exclusively for the stage direction: "KIT gets sexy up on him. WILL is into it." True poetry.
The fifth star is for the combination of real high stakes and hypnotising sexual tension. I could read these two characters interacting for the rest of my life and be quite content.
I cannot quite articulate how this play has everything. The character writing is masterclass. The context is a character within itself, constantly looming over the pair, refusing to leave them in peace. Once they meet for the first time, you can feel the clock ticking on them both. Liz Duffy Adams creates a forced proximity in which not both can survive for long.
The MOTIFS, the CALLBACKS, the shear BANTS of it all. I can't cope GUYS.
There are so many quotes in here that I will not stop rereading until I'm in my literal grave.
"Forgiveness, absolution, death and resurrection, love lost and found - its all we can do, all of us grievous grieving souls, forever willing our immortal longings into whatever being our pitiful powers may. Oh Kit. You should have died hereafter, you should have lived."
Honourable mention: "Ineffable. There's nothing I can't eff."
I am done now. I don't know how I will ever read again.
All five stars and throw in a few more if possible.
Read
October 27, 2025*watched! got major fanfiction vibes. a very fun time. gatwa and bluemel both fantastic!
September 26, 2025
Even without Ncuti and Edward’s charm this was so moving. I’m going to reread this again and again. I don’t know that a play will ever move me as much as this one does.
October 15, 2025
10/10 Brilliant. Life-changing. My forever favourite kind of character dynamic and I wish I could copy every passage I loved here but there'd be too many. Note to self: I need to get into more theatre, I forget how evocative it is
September 3, 2025
ncuti gatwa and edward bluemel the men that you are
December 27, 2025
Having seen this play in the West End, it truly is a masterpiece to behold. Then being able to read the play in my own space and time, to slowly read the words at my own leisure and reimagine the performance, it’s like reading the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe, it has that level of power. I love it so much!
On re-read: this will still be one of my favourite works ever, for both the words themselves and the memories of the performances I will never forget.
On re-read: this will still be one of my favourite works ever, for both the words themselves and the memories of the performances I will never forget.
Read
December 21, 2025Something about this play just gets me. Seeing it on stage was absolutely wonderful, but reading it made me emotional as well.
The play is very funny and very sexy, but it's not just that. For one, it is just super interesting to put these two writers in one room and think about what that might have been like - after all, they were contemporaries, but there are absolutely no records that confirm they ever met (though, if you believe they cowrote some stuff, they probably must have). Their dynamic is compelling, too: today, Shakespeare is the most famous playwright ever and Marlowe oftentimes doesn't even get a passing mention, but back in the day, he was the superstar and Shakespeare was only up-and-coming. The play explores how and why this shift may have occurred. Of course, Marlowe died early (and under mysterious circumstances), but it's more than that. I am no Shakespeare or Marlowe expert by any means, but I took a class on Early Modern Drama this past semester, and we talked about many of the things this play also touches upon: the fun thing about Shakespeare is that he often seems to disappear behind his words and there's lots of freedom to how you interpret his plays - he is an ambiguous writer who doesn't like to openly share his beliefs and convictions. Marlowe was, well, not that, from what I've heard, considering that with Doctor Faustus, he literally wrote a play about conjuring the devil, and that he was generally rumored to be an atheist. The play very much gets into the politics of the time, into freedom of speech and the fact that artists always have to be careful about how much of themselves they put into their art in case someone wants to use it against them. Unfortunately, this is obviously not a problem of the past but, as we all know, especially pressing in times when authoritarianism is on the rise again. Art is always political, whether you intend/ want it to be or not. While Born With Teeth is a short play, it sure makes you think.
I also really like the introduction they included before the actual text; it's fascinating to me that you can use statistics to more or less determine whether two plays were written by the same author or - in this case - to say with some certainty that Marlowe and Shakespeare seem to have collaborated on Henry VI.
The play is very funny and very sexy, but it's not just that. For one, it is just super interesting to put these two writers in one room and think about what that might have been like - after all, they were contemporaries, but there are absolutely no records that confirm they ever met (though, if you believe they cowrote some stuff, they probably must have). Their dynamic is compelling, too: today, Shakespeare is the most famous playwright ever and Marlowe oftentimes doesn't even get a passing mention, but back in the day, he was the superstar and Shakespeare was only up-and-coming. The play explores how and why this shift may have occurred. Of course, Marlowe died early (and under mysterious circumstances), but it's more than that. I am no Shakespeare or Marlowe expert by any means, but I took a class on Early Modern Drama this past semester, and we talked about many of the things this play also touches upon: the fun thing about Shakespeare is that he often seems to disappear behind his words and there's lots of freedom to how you interpret his plays - he is an ambiguous writer who doesn't like to openly share his beliefs and convictions. Marlowe was, well, not that, from what I've heard, considering that with Doctor Faustus, he literally wrote a play about conjuring the devil, and that he was generally rumored to be an atheist. The play very much gets into the politics of the time, into freedom of speech and the fact that artists always have to be careful about how much of themselves they put into their art in case someone wants to use it against them. Unfortunately, this is obviously not a problem of the past but, as we all know, especially pressing in times when authoritarianism is on the rise again. Art is always political, whether you intend/ want it to be or not. While Born With Teeth is a short play, it sure makes you think.
I also really like the introduction they included before the actual text; it's fascinating to me that you can use statistics to more or less determine whether two plays were written by the same author or - in this case - to say with some certainty that Marlowe and Shakespeare seem to have collaborated on Henry VI.
November 23, 2025
It's my new favorite play, and it's not even close. I could have drenched it in highlighter. Wow.
The premise of a two-hander with Marlowe and Shakespeare working together to write the Henry plays in a police state amidst unresolved sexual tension was never not going to work for me. Never. But I have to say, this really, REALLY worked for me. It's so clever and sexy and dangerous and funny and ultimately shocking. I love how the limits of what we know about Shakespeare is built into it. I adore how the reality of Marlowe being a spy is depicted. The tension and the chemistry is palpable even through the page. I need a pro-shot or a U.S. transfer yesterday.
The premise of a two-hander with Marlowe and Shakespeare working together to write the Henry plays in a police state amidst unresolved sexual tension was never not going to work for me. Never. But I have to say, this really, REALLY worked for me. It's so clever and sexy and dangerous and funny and ultimately shocking. I love how the limits of what we know about Shakespeare is built into it. I adore how the reality of Marlowe being a spy is depicted. The tension and the chemistry is palpable even through the page. I need a pro-shot or a U.S. transfer yesterday.
September 15, 2025
An incredible play both off and on stage. I saw this last week with Ncuti and Edward and they truly brought Kit and Will to life. An absolute need in your playtext collection or if you can, go see it in Wyndham’s Theatre this autumn. A heartbreaking, humorous story of love in some way. Of betrayal. A tragedy as Shakespeare himself would want it. I loved it.
November 3, 2025
"I think there is heaven in the flesh and I don’t think I’ll go to hell for it but if I do it was worth it."
Witty, flirty, moving, and absolutely delicious!
Feeling so lucky that I got to see Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel performing it in person, they're phenomenal and I'm in awe.
Witty, flirty, moving, and absolutely delicious!
Feeling so lucky that I got to see Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel performing it in person, they're phenomenal and I'm in awe.
September 27, 2025
He visto la obra en Wyndham’s Theatre y es una barbaridad. Compré el libreto y me lo leí de una sentada en el tren de vuelta de Londres a Bruselas. 10/10.
October 5, 2025
Ojalá verla otra vez en vivo, fue increíble
October 27, 2025
sooo brilliant i had so much fun! watched with ncuti gatwa and edward bluemel :) (4.5 stars rounded up)
October 29, 2025
watched this in the theatre last week and then bought a copy to reread whenever i please because GOD it’s good
October 21, 2025
saw the play (absolutely gorgeous and witty and well played) ✅️
bought the play & got it signed by the actors ✅️
read it and loved it even more ✅️🙂↕️🫡
bought the play & got it signed by the actors ✅️
read it and loved it even more ✅️🙂↕️🫡
August 25, 2025
Just got back from seeing the show on the west end. It rewired my brain chemistry, it was incredible! I got back to my hotel room after and straightaway sat and read the script to be able to relive it. I am 100% planning on seeing it again 🤯
November 11, 2025
BREATHTAKING! An exhilarating, frankly erotic power play between two intellectually written characters, completely immersed in the dynamic that Adams allows any two performers to go on and revel in. The second scene is a lengthy showdown of wit, deflection and desire, a page turning delight of pure energy. William Shakespeare is written impeccably, but the way Adams writes her enigmatic, dominating Christopher Marlowe should be seen (or read) to be believed. Perhaps my one gripe is that I wish that third scene was even longer and bore Will's teeth in an even greater manner, but the ending is still a knockout continuation of what comes before, and there is a lot to experience on every page of this near flawless play. One of the most passionate and fierce things I've ever had the honour of reading. I felt every emotion intended, and left with two new standout roles I won't soon forget the writing of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2025
I'm going insane. I had the privilege of seeing this performed at Wyndham's Theatre starring Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel and oh my god. It's the best play I've ever seen in my life. I immediately felt like crying because I was mourning that I can never experience it for the first time all over again. I felt like I held my breath for the entire 90 minutes, and I immediately bought the book of the play so I can read it again and again and again.
There's something electric and frenzied about Adams' writing that has sunk its teeth into me, pun intended. I want to tattoo the entire thing on me.
There's something electric and frenzied about Adams' writing that has sunk its teeth into me, pun intended. I want to tattoo the entire thing on me.
December 7, 2025
I sometimes struggle with contemporary historical plays, there’s usually an “academic but make it cool” vibe to them. I think its the language. Idk
I worried for a minute that’s what this would be… and it maybe is a little but in its second half, it really starts to work. As soon as the bravado and the wider historical context is dropped and the story becomes more intimate, there’s something quite interesting. My only major critique is I wanted more. It’s a tight 60 page/90mins but really I think there’s more here.
I worried for a minute that’s what this would be… and it maybe is a little but in its second half, it really starts to work. As soon as the bravado and the wider historical context is dropped and the story becomes more intimate, there’s something quite interesting. My only major critique is I wanted more. It’s a tight 60 page/90mins but really I think there’s more here.
August 25, 2025
I saw the play on the westend, loved it, reading the script brought the memories back of the performance and it is such a wonderful way to create and understanding of the lives of people in the Elizabethan period.
I also think it is a brilliant script to connect to a younger audience which is important for both reading and theatre!
I also think it is a brilliant script to connect to a younger audience which is important for both reading and theatre!
October 18, 2025
I watched this play last night and had to read it almost immediately it was that good. A searing comment on the old and the contemporary, Addams creates a world that feels based on fact rather than assumption
October 19, 2025
It’s a smart and witty play, makes me want to memorize all the puns by heart. It’s funny and is exactly the right level of amorous heat that it is not vulgar. Can’t wait to see it for the second time on stage tonight. This time fully prepared :)
October 30, 2025
went to see the play a couple weeks ago and loved it. however i do need my subtitles so i bought the screenplay after to go over the passages that i hadn't understood.
still as beautiful and hilarious as it was played live.
still as beautiful and hilarious as it was played live.
September 24, 2025
WILL: What did you tell me when we first started last year, that my head would be on a spike?
KIT: Yes?
WILL: We'll be neighbours.
KIT: Yes?
WILL: We'll be neighbours.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2025
“History may we’re written by the victors, but we know they delegate to the poets”
October 11, 2025
Basically a fanfic about Shakespeare and Marlowe being gay for each other. There’s never been something written more to my taste.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews