The Marlowe Sessions – Marlowe Theatre

Two years ago, I went along to watch the recording of Tamburlaine II, intrigued by this ambitious plan to record all seven of Christopher Marlowe’s plays in quick succession, here is the link to my interview with one of the cast members Alan Cox – https://northwestend.com/spotlight-on-actor-alan-cox-and-the-marlowe-sessions-at-the-malthouse-theatre-canterbury/, which sheds some light on this project.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) the poet/playwright, was controversial to say the least, his open homosexuality during a period of gay sex being outlawed, atheism, and his involvement as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham, are evidence enough of his unorthodox thinking.  This spilled over into his plays, the blood thirsty Tamburlaine, the gay Edward II, and the ambitious necromancer, Doctor Faustus.

The concept behind the development of the Marlowe Sessions was Ray Mia’s vision, of staging all seven of Marlowe’s plays, you could almost say as a boxset, 460 years after his birth.  Remarkably, this has never been done before, but Mia’s ambitious dream was to focus on the words, to strip the plays back to blank verse on a blank stage, plain costumes designed by Ti Green.  With no special lighting effects, the musical sounds are designed by musical director Tarek Merchant, the music provided by on-set musicians, and astonishingly, church bells.  The key theme here is to focus on the audio, each actor wore a microphone attached to their clothing, and script-in-hand they worked their way through the play, using no props apart from improvising as they went.  The recording took place in front of an audience, which was filmed at the Malthouse Theatre, a part of The King’s School, Canterbury, a school in which Marlowe attended.

The result, is a birds-eye view of the stage, with an astonishingly crisp surround sound.  One of the things that I always look for in live performance is audibility, the ability to hear all of the words spoken in a play, this is so important to the communication of the story, as without it key points can be lost, along with the audience’s interest.  I am pleased to say that Mia’s dream of delivering an experience that brought Marlowe’s words to the fore, is achieved.  Not one word is lost, the dramatic nature of Doctor Faustus is enhanced by his magnificent playwrighting being captured by such experienced classical actors.

The storyline, for those who do not know it – Doctor Faustus (c) is a knowledge hungry scholar who grows dissatisfied with the limitations of his study methods.  In a desire to increase his knowledge he seeks out black magic with the help of his friends Valdes (Forbes Masson) and Cornelius (Ben Roddy), to enhance his skills summoning Mephistopheles (Talulah Riley) a devil, and the right-hand servant of Lucifer.  A bargain is agreed, that in exchange for Mephistopheles’ service for twenty-four years, Faustus will give his soul.  We follow Faustus on his travels, and witness the seduction that power has on him, as he wrestles with his conscience, and the reality of his impending death.

The bare stage enables the performers to inhabit the space without hindrance, the movement enhances the delivery of the lines, and keeps the focus on Marlowe’s text.  And that really is the point of this whole project – the words!  Did it work – in most aspects it did, bringing together this incredible group of classical actors, Dominic West, Joseph Millson, Talulah Riley, Adrian Schiller, Amanda Ryan, Alan Cox, Michael Maloney, to name just a few who collaborated on this.  The technical work behind the scenes that has brought these plays to the screen this week in Canterbury, assists in keeping the plays of Christopher Marlowe alive.  Marlowe has lived in the shadow of Shakespeare due to his early death, but certainly not due to his lack of skills as a playwright.

In summary, I expected more visually, maybe some movement of camera or zooming in for close ups, but in trying to keep a theatrical feel, I am sure that the producers have been careful not to let this slip into a small screen TV feel.  The company have been hugely successful in achieving what they set out to do, to bring all of Christopher Marlowe’s plays together, and with a sound quality that is second to none…not a line is lost, which makes this theatre lover, incredibly happy!

If you happen to be in Canterbury over the next week, go to see this, the cast and the audio technology are incredible.  To book tickets go to – https://marlowetheatre.com/festivals/the-marlowe-sessions/ – it runs from the 16^th to 24^th August 2024, with a different play each day.

Reviewer: Caroline Worswick

Reviewed: 15^th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: