Murdering Marlowe

The greatest obstacle to his achieving the success he believes he richly deserves is the prominence of Christopher Marlowe, the "superstar" of the Elizabethan theatre

So formidable is his envy against this charismatic playwright that he persuades himself the only way to achieve his goal is to remove Marlowe from the scene

To this end, he musters the support of Robert Poley, a man who detests the atheistic, homosexual young Marlowe

Poley and his cohort Ingram Frizer proceed to devise the plan which will dispatch the detested anti-Christ

Will's wife, Anne Hathaway, constantly rails against her feckless husband, who can provide no support for the family and who is wasting his time and measly talents in "playmaking"

To elude the abuse of his embittered Stratford wife, Will finds solace in his mistress, Emilia, without realizing that she is Marlowe's mistress as well

The fateful day of the murder arrives: the site, Eleanor Bull's Tavern where Poley, Frizer and another accomplice zero in on the hapless Marlowe

Sodden with drink, woozy and unsuspecting, the Cambridge poet is brutally murdered

After the fatal blows have been struck, Will reveals himself to Marlowe as the arch conspirator who has masterminded his downfall

With his last gasps, Marlowe condemns the paltriness of his dramatic rival, proclaiming his artistic superiority to Shakespeare

Marlowe's supremacy in the Elizabethan theatre has been successfully eclipsed by the conniving Shakespeare

His posters are torn from their hoardings and Shakespeare's star rapidly begins to rise

" a beguiling and erudite thriller exploring the high price of envy, love and blind ambition" ~ L.A. Weekly

"Five minutes into the production, I found myself utterly intrigued by the drama playing out in front of me; moreover I remained intrigued, captivated even, until the curtain calls and afterwards " ~ Shakespeare Bulletin

" mordantly funny " ~ L.A. Times