REVIEW: The Natural Theatre Company - The Murder & Mystery of Kit Marlowe

Streets of Bath

You can tell it’s a Nats promenade piece ‘cos they’re proper actors, and the costumes [OK, some of them] are really good - might have been a bit hot today mind… The characters chat naturally, a lot of the humour is delivered in scathing asides from someone used to dominating the conversation, there is a good dynamic between the players and the crowd, some embarassment-free participation and occasional invitations to be silly. The backdrops are some of Bath’s most believably antique bits: the characters, particularty Queen Bess, are larger than life and played for laughs, tho’ I believe the history is plausible enough. The best thing is - classic street comedy here - that a virtue is made of the weaknesses in the set-up: too many characters between too few actors? Well then, make unashamed reference to how the historical figures resembled each other, two of them were brothers after all.

This being a sunny day in Bath you get all sorts of quizzical looks from passers-by, and you feel like you’re in an exclusive culture club for an hour. It’s time well spent: if they’re playing it near anyone you know, or even here again, you won’t regret either the time or the mental effort to keep up…

Dr Zeno