Rehearsal images have been released for Born With Teeth, the thrilling new play by Liz Duffy Adams, ahead of its West End premiere at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Presented by Playful Productions, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Elizabeth Williams, Born With Teeth stars Ncuti Gatwa as Christopher Marlowe and Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare.
Directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director and two-time Olivier Award winner Daniel Evans, the production promises an explosively entertaining duel of wits, words, and powerplay.
Design is by Olivier Award-winner Joanna Scotcher, with lighting by Tony and Olivier Award-winner Neil Austin. Sound design is by George Dennis, video design by Andrzej Goulding, movement direction by Ira Mandela Siobhan, and casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG.
Understudies include Matt Pettifor as William Shakespeare and Justice Ritchie as Christopher Marlowe.
Born With Teeth imagines a daring and dangerous relationship between two literary giants, set against the backdrop of Elizabethan England.
Ncuti Gatwa said:
“I’m so excited to be joining Born With Teeth alongside the amazing Edward Bluemel. Liz Duffy Adams has written an exceptional play that is smart, dark, sexy, sharp and funny! There’s a lot to get one’s teeth into. This is like no version of Shakespeare and Marlowe that I’ve ever seen before, and I can’t wait for audiences to join us for the ride.”
Edward Bluemel added:
“I feel incredibly proud and excited to be working with Ncuti Gatwa and Daniel Evans on the European premiere of Born With Teeth. To be stepping into the shoes of a young William Shakespeare is a huge thrill for any actor and I can’t wait to get started. When I read Liz Duffy Adams’ script, I was instantly drawn into the high-stakes world of these two rival playwrights and the incredible, creative chemistry they share. There’s a real freshness and vitality to Liz’s writing that speaks directly to our world, and I can’t wait for West End audiences to experience it for the first time.”
Matthew Byam Shaw, Nia Janis and Nick Salmon from Playful Productions said:
“It is wonderful to be continuing our relationship with the RSC and Daniel Evans with whom Matthew has been collaborating for nearly 20 years. We cannot wait for the entire team to bring this brilliant play to life on stage at Wyndham’s Theatre and for audiences to join them.”
Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, Co-Artistic Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, commented:
“We’re so excited to be bringing Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth to Wyndham’s Theatre alongside our partners Playful Productions and Elizabeth Williams for Grain of Sand Productions. As our seventh production to be presented in London in 2025, we look forward to sharing more of the RSC’s work with audiences in the capital and are thrilled that two such extraordinary actors as Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel will be joining us on that journey this summer.”
Elizabeth Williams said:
“It is rare in my many years as a West End and Broadway producer to read a play like Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth which from the first sentence, thrills. Our playwright seems to have channeled directly from the 1590s this story of the intersection of the contemporary lives of these two great poets, Marlowe and Shakespeare, and it is brilliant in conception and ferociously sexy.”
Listings and ticket information can be found here
