The Merchant of Malta

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.

How do you follow the success of Tamburlaine? Kit Marlowe’s response was to write a play about an unknown Jewish merchant in Malta. The Jew of Malta is Kit’s most disturbing play: a black comedy that manages to laugh at Jews, Christians and Muslims all at the same time. The dark inspiration for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, it is also a play about spying and geopolitics, a world in which Kit became ever more enmeshed even as his success as a dramatist grew.

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