Past Marlowe Infotainment

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Film TV & Radio

This is an archive of past films of Marlowe plays, as well as TV and radio programmes about Marlowe and his times. The details and links may still be of interest, including links to sites where the DVDs or related books can be purchased online.

The Marlowe Sessions screening at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury - 2024

The Marlowe Sessions Screening, Canterbury [2024]

  • Plays: The Marlowe Sessions
  • Films: Script-in-hand performances of all Marlowe's plays were filmed at the Malthouse Theatre in 2022 and those recordings are now being shown at the Marlowe Theatre Studio.
  • Date: Friday 16 August to Saturday 24 August 2024.
  • Venue: The Marlowe Studio, The Friars, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2AS. [Map & Directions]
  • Tickets: Priced £10 (16-26 year olds) and £16 available online via the individual screening links below. Multi-buy reductions also available.
  • Screenings:
    • Friday 16 August at 19:00: Doctor Faustus with Dominic West as Faustus and Talulah Riley as Mephistopheles.
    • Saturday 17 August at 14:00: Tamburlaine the Great Part I with Alan Cox in the title role.
    • Saturday 17 August at 19:00: Tamburlaine the Great Part II with Alan Cox in the title role.
    • Sunday 18 August at 14:00: The Jew of Malta with Adrian Schiller as Barabas and Eleanor Wylde as Abigail.
    • Thursday 22 August at 19:00: The Massacre at Paris with Michael Maloney as Guise and Nancy Carroll as Catherine de Medici.
    • Friday 23 August at 19:00: Dido, Queen of Carthage with Thallissa Teixera in the title role.
    • Saturday 24 August at 14:00: A captioned screening of Doctor Faustus with Dominic West as Faustus and Talulah Riley as Mephistopheles.
    • Saturday 24 August at 19:00: Edward II with Jack Holden as Edward and Mark Rice-Oxley as Gaveston.
  • Screening Reviews: Michael Billington in The Guardian; Original Reading Reviews: Drama & Theatre; Kent Online review of Doctor Faustus.
  • Summary: The Marlowe Sessions were script-in-hand performances of all of Marlowe's works filmed at Canterbury's Malthouse Theatre in 2022. Performance Directors included Phillip Breen (Royal Shakespeare Company), Stephen Unwin (Rose Theatre Kingston) and Dr Abigail Rokison-Woodall (Shakespeare Institute), with original music composed by Tarek Merchant. "Playwright. Poet. Provocateur. Much has been said about Christopher Marlowe. He was a heretic and a hedonist. An icon of English theatre and a spy for Elizabeth I. Born in Canterbury, dead at 29 – in a bar brawl, at the order of the Queen or a masterful fakery, depending on who you ask. Now, for the first time in 400 years, Marlowe’s plays are presented in their entirety. This summer, our Studio becomes a cinema as we present performances starring Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair, The Crown), Talulah Riley (Westworld, Pride & Prejudice) and Alan Cox (Say My Name, Contagion, A Voyage Around My Father), among others. Captured using state-of-the-art high-definition cameras and spatial audio, this is theatre on screen as you've never experienced it before."
  • Website Links: The Marlowe Theatre presents The Marlowe Sessions originally filmed at the Malthouse Theatre in 2022 | Performers Montage Image
Globe on Screen DVD: Doctor Faustus filmed at the Globe (2012)

Globe Doctor Faustus DVD [2012]

  • DVD: Globe on Screen: Doctor Faustus
  • DVD Release Date: 03 December 2012.
  • Studio: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre On Screen - Opus Arte DVD.
  • Running Time: 166 minutes.
  • Region: All regions.
  • Theatre Production: Part of the Globe's 2011 The Word is God season, Doctor Faustus written by Christopher Marlowe and directed by Matthew Dunster with Paul Hilton as Faustus and Arthur Darvill as Mephistopheles.
  • Summary: "Doctor Faustus is Christopher Marlowe's most renowned and controversial work. Famous for being the first dramatised version of the Faustus tale, the play depicts the sinister aftermath of Faustus's decision to sell his soul to the Devil's henchman in exchange for power and knowledge. The first-ever staging of this menacing drama at the Globe Theatre includes several impressive magical stunts along the way. Filmed in high Definition and true surround sound. Spoken in Marlowe's English with English and German subtitles."
  • DVD Reviews: Peter Kirwan (UoN Bardathon); Guardian; Mind the Blog.
  • Buy Online: Globe Shop Online; National Theatre Shop Online.
  • Website Links: DVD of Doctor Faustus played at Shakespeare's Globe | Interview with Arthur Darvill [YouTube].
BBC Radio 4: Shakespeare's Restless World - 2012)

Shakespeare's Restless World, BBC R4 [2012]

DVD Release: Edward II (1991) - Directed by Derek Jarman

Jarman's Edward II DVD [2010]

Stage on Screen DVD: Doctor Faustus filmed at the Greenwich Theatre, London in 2009

Greenwich Doctor Faustus DVD [2010]

  • DVD: Stage on Screen: Doctor Faustus
  • DVD Release Date: January 2010.
  • Studio: Stage on Screen
  • Running Time: 129 minutes
  • Region: "DVDs will be supplied in the format suitable for the country being ordered from".
  • Theatre Production: Greenwich Theatre presents Doctor Faustus written by Christopher Marlowe and directed by Elizabeth Freestone with Gareth Kennerley as Faustus and Tim Treloar as Mephistophilis.
  • Summary: Greenwich Theatre signed a unique deal with Stage on Screen to stage high quality professional productions of classic texts, and the theatre's production of Doctor Faustus in October 2009. "Wienerworld has teamed up with Stage on Screen to release a brand new series of classic plays aimed at the student, teacher, lecturer and theatre lover alike. Each production is highly polished, using professional actors and directors at London s award-winning Greenwich theatre, which specialises in productions for young people. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, to give it its full title, is a play by Christopher Marlowe. It was first published in 1604, at least twelve years after its first performance, although the basic tale is much older. Having decided he has accumulated all he can of conventional knowledge, Doctor Faustus turns to magic in a quest for greater truths. Before long, he ends up selling his soul to the devil in the famous 'Faustian pact'."
  • DVD Reviews: Peter Kirwan (UoN Bardathon); Educational Media Reviews Online; Shakespeare Journal.
  • Buy Online: Stage on Screen DVD: Doctor Faustus: 3 Disc Pack; Oxfam.
  • Website Links: Stage on Screen DVD of Doctor Faustus played at Greenwich Theatre | IMDB entry | Video Excerpt.
BBC Radio 4: In Our Time: Christopher Marlowe - 2005)

In Our Time, BBC R4 [2005]

  • Radio Programme: BBC Radio 4 In Our Time episode on Christopher Marlowe.
  • Broadcast Date: First broadcast on Thursday 07 July 2005 at 09:00 and 21:30 (45 minutes).
  • Contributors: Hosted by Melvyn Bragg with guests Katherine Duncan-Jones (Senior Research Fellow in the English Faculty of Oxford University), Jonathan Bate (Professor of English Literature, University of Warwick), and Emma Smith (Lecturer in English, Oxford University).
  • Summary: "Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Christopher Marlowe. In the prologue to The Jew of Malta Christopher Marlowe has Machiavel say: "I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance. Birds of the air will tell of murders past! I am ashamed to hear such fooleries. Many will talk of title to a crown. What right had Caesar to the empire? Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure When, like the Draco's, they were writ in blood." A forger, a brawler, a spy, a homosexual and accused of atheism but above all a playwright and poet, Christopher Marlowe was the most celebrated writer of his generation, bringing Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus and The Jew of Malta to the stage and far outshining William Shakespeare during his lifetime. Then came his mysterious death at 29, days before he was due to appear on trial accused of heresy. Was he stabbed in an argument over a bill? Was he assassinated? And how does his work measure up to Shakespeare, a man who paid generous tribute and some say stole some of his best lines? Was Marlowe assassinated by the Elizabethan state? How subversive was his literary work? And had he lived as long as his contemporary Shakespeare, how would he have compared?"
  • Listen Online: Available to listen to on the BBC Radio 4 In Our Time Marlowe episode web page (also downloadable as an MP3).
  • Website Links: BBC Radio 4 Extra episode of In Our Time on Christopher Marlowe.
DVD of Doctor Faustus (1967) starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Burton's Doctor Faustus DVD [2004]