The Mighty Line

Historian Jerry Brotton presents a 10-part exploration into the life and work of the Elizabethan playwright Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe. Notorious for his violent death in a brawl in Deptford on the banks of the Thames, there’s perennial interest in Marlowe’s writing, his sexuality, his relationship with Shakespeare, the suspicion that he was a spy and the big “what-if” he had lived longer and produced even greater work.

Step-by-step, Jerry Brotton traces Kit Marlowe’s life and career, takes us through his key plays, including Tamburlaine, Dr Faustus and Edward II, examines why they resonate with us now and talks to those today who are still fascinated by Kit’s legacy and influence.

In 1587, Kit Marlowe brought his play Tamburlaine to the London stage. The play was radical enough in depicting an apparently atheist Scythian shepherd conquering half the world and getting away with it. But it also introduced a whole new kind of verse to the stage: blank verse known as iambic pentameter, or what admirers called Kit’s ‘mighty line’, which changed the sound of British theatre forever.

Written and presented by Professor Jerry Brotton
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald
Christopher Marlowe read by Justice Ritchie
Other voices read by Tonderai Munyevu
Sound design by Tony Churnside

A Zinc Audio Production