Have you read Ros Barber’s The Marlowe Papers? If you haven’t, do. It’s a wonderful book – a novel in blank verse about Kit Marlowe… In spite of it being yet another take on the Marlovian side of the Authorship Question, I truly loved it – and I’m an orthodox Stratfordian…
Yet another take – yes, but such a wonderful one. By far the best I’ve come across, together with Rodney Bolt’s History Play. It’s so wonderfully written, so clever, so full of great characters – first of all a very engaging Kit…
Which is why I am thrilled to find out it has been adapted for the stage. Author Ros Barber and director Nicola Haydn have turned it into a play, in which Jamie Martin plays Kit and… well, everyone else. It’s playing right now at the Brighton Fringe, with live mandolin music as well. 
As I said, I’ve loved the book, and would love to see how it translates to the stage. The trailer is promising, and Jamie Martin seems very adept at recreating the combination of iambic pentameters and conversational tone that made the narrating voice so charming on paper…
Ah well, I cannot hope to see it in Brighton. Maybe at some point of the national tour promised on the play’s site. Let’s hope – and meanwhile, there is the Twitter account to follow.
Scribblings 