Theater Review: Born With Teeth

SARASOTA — On Friday, the Asolo Rep opened Liz Duffy Adams’s Born With Teeth in the Mertz Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. The 90-minute, two-actor drama presupposes that William Shakespeare and Christopher “Kit” Marlowe collaborated on the three Henry VI plays, a long-debated theory that saw one major publishing house add Marlowe as a co-author to the works in 2016.

It seems that we have entered a sort of new age of Shakespeare in recent years, with the bard increasingly being used as a character, despite—or perhaps because—so precious little is actually known about his history. Urbanite is currently producing the world premiere of Katie Bender’s Judith (review), which inspired me to revisit the 2011 film Anonymous, both of which likewise imagine what the relationship between the two playwrights may have looked like.

Duffy’s story has the brash and far more established Marlowe enlisting the naive and unproven Will’s help on what is sure to be a provocative play, as much for political purposes as for professional ones. Elizabethan England is presented without the romantic trappings that often adorn period pieces, and the tension surrounding any efforts to critique or even satirize the church or the crown, no matter how subtly, is well utilized.

Matthew Amendt (Marlowe) and Dylan Godwin (Shakespeare) have already enjoyed a successful run of the play at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre, so their incredibly tight opening night performance no doubt benefitted from established chemistry. That said, each performed with such disciplined tenacity that their tango would have been no less impressive had they benefitted from a thousand previous performances.

Duffy’s writing is impressive, laced with beautiful prose and inspired dialog. I did feel as though the storytelling dragged at times, belaboring some of the relationship dynamics between the bards. Judith had a similar run time and felt much better paced despite being a one-woman show. The plot-twist ending of Born With Teeth seemed a tad bit telegraphed, but, and I cannot stress this enough, the acting was superb enough to overcome what are only minor quibbles with the story.

Born With Teeth is definitely a worthwhile night of theater that will be especially attractive to fans of Shakespeare. Directed by Rob Melrose, it runs through March 29. Visit the Asolo website for more information.