Becoming the Story

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 the spring of 1593, Marlowe completed what would be his last play, The Massacre at Paris, a dramatisation of the Catholic massacre of Protestants in Paris in 1572. With 18 onstage deaths, it is one of the most violent of all Tudor plays. Yet within months of its successful performance, a placard attacking ‘strangers’ and signed ‘Tamburlaine’ was nailed to the door of a church in London. Someone wanted to frame Kit. Now he had become the story. With a warrant issued for his arrest on 18th May 1593, the net was closing around Marlowe.

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