“If Christopher Marlowe were alive today, he would have painted the town red. What a bad bitch!” exclaims Ncuti Gatwa.
Speaking by phone from London, the actor describes the Elizabethan playwright and rogue, who is as famous for works like Doctor Faustus as for his wild lifestyle. (Marlowe is thought to have been stabbed to death in a bar fight at just 29, while facing charges of heresy.)
Gatwa, the 32-year-old Rwandan-Scottish actor known for Sex Education and Doctor Who, is now playing Marlowe in the fiery West End play Born With Teeth. He wears Marlowe’s rakish leather doublet and flashes a cunning grin, acting opposite Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare—Marlowe’s imagined rival, collaborator, and, in the play’s speculative world, lusty sparring partner.
“The rivalry and admiration between them, and how it shapes their art—it was a juicy subject to explore,” says Gatwa.
Written by Liz Duffy Adams and produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the play imagines a series of sharp, fictional encounters between Marlowe and Shakespeare as they work together on Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays from 1591 to 1593. While there’s no historical evidence they collaborated or even knew each other, both were working in the politically charged atmosphere of Elizabethan London.
“England had shifted from Catholic to Protestant rule and back again. Under Catholic rule, Protestants were hunted; under Protestant rule, Catholics were. Everyone was terrified of each other, afraid to show their true selves,” Gatwa explains, setting the historical scene. In the play, Christopher “Kit” Marlowe—a known spy for Queen Elizabeth I’s Protestant government—is paired with Shakespeare, who is suspected of Catholic sympathies.
Adding to this is a simmering layer of sexual tension between the two men, which Gatwa feels aligns with the queerness evident in Marlowe’s writing.
“Ed and I were very keen to make it as hot as possible,” he says. While preparing, Gatwa studied the work of Elizabethan historian Will Tosh and “discovered how unapologetically queer Kit Marlowe was, and Shakespeare too. I learned they used same-sex pronouns in their work. They didn’t hide their queerness.” He compares their dynamic to that of a leopard (Marlowe) and a house cat (Shakespeare), and over the play’s brisk 90 minutes, their sharp banter rarely lets up—a testament to director Daniel Evans.
Before this production, Gatwa had some familiarity with Marlowe from his drama training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and an early career role in a staging of Shakespeare in Love, which features Marlowe as a character. (After moving from Rwanda to Scotland with his family at age two, he caught the acting bug in school and never looked back.) Fresh off his groundbreaking run as the first Black actor to play Doctor Who last spring, he was immediately drawn to Adams’ vision of Kit. “I thought, I have to play this role. I was captivated by the idea of an iconic queer artist from the Elizabethan era whose work and legacy have been somewhat hidden. It felt cool to engage with that—not to resurrect it, but to give it new life.”
Beyond the West End, Gatwa has several projects in the works. The romantic comedy The Roses, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, opened last week; Gatwa plays Colman’s “slutty head gay waiter named Jeffrey.” He also recently finished filming The Queen of Fashion in Wales, a film about the unconventional fashion editor Isabella Blow, in which he plays her mentor and Tatler boss, Michael Roberts.
Roberts, who worked as a critic, photographer, fashion editor, and illustrator during his varied career, died in…In 2023, Gatwa reflected, “What an incredible man he was, and how groundbreaking for a person of color to be working in high fashion at that time.” To prepare for the role, he carefully studied a video on Vogue’s website to absorb Roberts’s mannerisms, noting, “He had that unemotional yet incredibly witty British quality that was so fun to try to capture.”
As his fame has grown, so has Gatwa’s connection to fashion. Working with stylist Felicity Kay, whom he met during his time on Sex Education, he describes his style as “classic with a kink.” For last May’s Met Gala, he wore a patterned purple suit by Ozwald Boateng and had a “kinky Elizabethan” look planned for the premiere of Teeth.
“I’m quite an emotional person,” he explains, “so I’ll message Felicity with how I’m feeling that day, and she’ll work around it—like, ‘I want to feel like Beyoncé’s alien superstar meets Tom of Finland. Can you make me look like that?’ And somehow, she does.”
To unwind between projects, the actor finds comfort in an unexpected source: birdsong. (That, and his go-to smoothie made with spinach, green powder, marine collagen, chia seeds, banana, blueberries, peanut butter, protein powder, oats, and oat milk: “I started pimping my protein shakes, and honestly, I’ve noticed the gains—and I’m not mad about it!”)
“I have a lot of anxiety and ADHD, so I needed something to quiet my mind,” he shares. “I discovered that birdsong, scientifically, calms your nervous system. Evolutionarily, humans associate birds with safety—where there are birds, there are no predators.” He adds with a self-aware chuckle, “So I listen to birdsong and FKA Twigs’s Eusexua, on repeat, of course!”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about Ncuti Gatwa playing Christopher Marlowe in the West End play Born With Teeth
General Beginner Questions
Q Who is Ncuti Gatwa
A Hes a RwandanScottish actor best known for playing Eric Effiong in the Netflix series Sex Education and as the new Doctor in Doctor Who
Q What is Born With Teeth about
A Its a play by Liz Duffy Adams that imagines a fictional highstakes meeting between the famous playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
Q Who is Christopher Marlowe
A He was a real Elizabethan playwright and poet a contemporary of Shakespeare known for plays like Doctor Faustus He lived a dramatic and mysterious life
Q Is this a new role for Ncuti
A Yes While hes famous for TV this marks his major debut in a leading role on the London West End stage
Q When and where is the play showing
A It ran at the Duke of Yorks Theatre in Londons West End from April to June 2024
About the Role Performance
Q What makes Marlowe a seductive character in this play
A The character is written as charismatic witty dangerous and sexually confidentusing his charm as a weapon and a tool for survival in a treacherous political era
Q How did Ncuti prepare for such a classic theatrical role
A He worked with voice and movement coaches to master the Elizabethan style of speaking and the physicality of a confident seductive character from that period
Q Was it a big shift from his role in Sex Education
A Absolutely Eric is a modern vulnerable teenager Marlowe is a cunning and powerful historical figure requiring a completely different acting approach
Q Did he perform with a specific accent for the role
A Yes he used a Received Pronunciation accent which is common for classical theatre rather than his natural Scottish accent
Q What was the critical response to his performance
A He received widespread critical praise for his commanding stage presence vocal power and ability to capture Marlowes dangerous charm and intelligence
Advanced Practical Questions