Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel are set to star in the UK premiere of Liz Duffy Adams’ dark comedy Born With Teeth in the West End.
Co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Playful Productions, Born With Teeth is playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre, from 13 August to 1 November 2025.
American playwright Liz Duffy Adams’ two-hander imagines an electrifying encounter between William Shakespeare (Edward Bluemel – Killing Eve, Sex Education) and Christopher Marlowe (Ncuti Gatwa – Doctor Who, The Importance of Being Earnest,), in a thrilling imagining of the relationship between two literary icons.
Set in 1591in the backroom of a pub, it is a dangerous time for artists: the country is full of conspiracy and paranoia. When writing sensations Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare are forced together in a creative union, 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.
Trailer: Born With Teeth starring Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel
The production will be directed by RSC co-artistic director Daniel Evans (Quiz, American Buffalo), who was recently starring in Marlowe’s Edward II for the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The creative team also includes design by Joanna Scotcher, lighting design by Neil Austin, and casting by Charlotte Sutton, with further creatives to be announced.
Ncuti Gatwa returns to the stage as Christopher Marlowe, following his acclaimed performance in The Importance of Being Earnest, which completed its run at the National Theatre in January this year. His TV credits include his current role as The Doctor in iconic BBC series Doctor Who, and as Eric in Sex Education.
Edward Bluemel, who will play William Shakespeare, is a rising star best known for roles in TV hits My Lady Jane, Killing Eve and A Discovery of Witches.
The play premiered at Houston’s Alley Theatre in 2022, helmed by director Rob Melrose, and has since toured major US institutions including the Guthrie Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Praised for its “devilishly clever” language and “electrically charged” performances, Born With Teeth has won a number of awards including a 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and multiple Houston Theater Awards for Best Play, Best New Play, and Best Actors.
Ncuti Gatwa said in a statement: “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 said: “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 said: “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.”
Co-producer of the show, 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.”
Born With Teeth is running at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London from 13 August to 1 November 2025.
Also coming to the Wyndham’s Theatre, following Born With Teeth, is a new production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, starring Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Paapa Essiedu. Directed by Ivo van Hove, All My Sons is playing from 14 November.
More about Born With Teeth tickets in London, at the Wyndham’s Theatre
Related News
11 Family-friendly shows to see in London this Christmas
Mischief Originals Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer crash back into the West End to join Christmas Carol Goes Wrong for two weeks
Christine Baranski on playing Judith Bliss in Hay Fever: “If this is my last play, it’s the perfect play to say okay, bye”
National Theatre Live announces new screenings for 2027 including Hay Fever with Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant
Latest News
A jaunt through the history of panto: how a flexible theatre form transformed Britain’s Christmas theatre scene
Everything you need to know about West Side Story at the National Theatre
10 reasons we can’t wait for West Side Story
