Ncuti Gatwa doesn\u2019t just share a regeneration with David Tennant.<\/p>\n
The current star of Doctor Who is the first since Tennant to display such a clear desire to get back on stage and make use of his enhanced profile to bag bigger roles. Last year he anchored the National Theatre\u2019s hyperreal, warmly-reviewed The Importance of Being Earnest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And this summer he\u2019ll follow in the footsteps of longterm RSC associate Tennant and star in the company\u2019s new West End drama.<\/p>\n
Born with Teeth is a new play by US writer Liz Duffy Edwards that concerns the relationship between Gatwa\u2019s Christopher Marlowe and Edward Bluemel\u2019s William Shakespeare. Set in 1591, the two-hander play sees the two legendary playwrights and pals flirt, fight and collaborate on Henry VI in paranoid late Elizabethan London.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An unknown American playwright coming in and writing a \u2018sexy\u2019 play about two of our greatest writers does have the slight air of fanfic to it, but the steadying hand of the RSC and its co-director Daniel Evans (who will direct here) suggests we\u2019re on pretty safe ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After gamely joining in with the ensemble fun for Earnest, this two-hander is a real opportunity for Gatwa to give a proper star turn. And the same can be said for Killing Eve man Bluemel, who dabbled in stage work earlier in his career but hasn\u2019t been back since.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have a lot of rune reading for Who watchers here, but it is worth pointing out that it\u2019s relatively unusual for a big West End show to start its run in the middle of August, which could be indicative of needing to fit around a shooting schedule, though the finishing date of November 1 isn\u2019t particularly wild. All will doubtless be revealed in good time(y wimey)<\/p>\n
Born With Teeth is at Wyndham\u2019s Theatre, Aug 13-Nov 1. Tickets go on general sale April 16.<\/p>\n
The best new London theatre openings in 2025.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n