Ncuti Gatwa heads to the West End this Autumn to star in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Born with Teeth
Fans missing Ncuti Gatwa’s electrifying performances when the current season of Doctor Who ends next month won’t have long to wait to see him again. The actor will be once more taking a lead role with the Royal Shakespeare Company. This time, though, he’ll be starring not in a play by Shakespeare, but one about him. Gatwa will star in Born with Teeth as celebrated playwright Kit Marlowe. The author is at the height of his powers even as a new young firebrand called William Shakespeare also arrives on the scene.
Taking its name from a speech by Richard III about the hopelessness of changing our inner natures, Born with Teeth explores the complicated relationship between the two writers. It imagines the sparks of rivalry, respect, and also even desire flying between them. The two square off in a game of wits, words, and powerplay worthy of two of history’s greatest literary geniuses.
RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans directs Ncuti Gatwa alongside Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve, My Lady Jane) as William Shakespeare.
Performances begin 13 August for a strictly limited 11-week season at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre. Book now via the Delfont Mackintosh Theatres website.
Since filming wrapped on his second season of Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa has been concentrating on stage work. His performance in Born with Teeth follows his role in Oscar Wilde’s An Importance of Being Earnest over last winter. He’ll next be see on screens in The Roses, which will be in cinemas on the 1st of September.
Born with Teeth
Winter 1591.
It is a dangerous time for artists: the country is full of conspiracy and paranoia.
In the backroom of a pub, writing sensations Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare are forced together in a creative union. Alone, with the table as their stage and battlefield, they sharpen their pens – and let their genius fly.
Across three secret meetings, the rivals duel and flirt like their lives depend on it – and with spies everywhere, betrayal is so tempting.
Marking its West End premiere this summer, Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth is a thrilling imagining of the relationship between two literary icons at odds with their time.
