The School of Night

A sublime and sensuous political thriller set in the 16th century, Peter Whelan’s The School of Night makes its American premiere at the Mark Taper Forum. Bill Alexander, who also directed the play’s world premiere in England, directs.

Christopher Marlowe was perhaps England’s greatest dramatist before the rise of his contemporary, William Shakespeare. In The School of Night, Whelan provides a fascinating twist to the centuries-old mystery of the sudden and tragically early death of Marlowe, whose last year of life was filled with intrigue and treachery. Beyond his literary genius, Marlowe became legendary for his reckless vitality, his singular allegiance to freedom of artistic expression and his willingness to stand out from convention as an atheist, a homosexual, and a member of a society of free-thinkers – the School of Night. As the play cleverly points out, these traits made him a marked man. Was he really murdered in a barroom brawl on May 30, 1593, or was he involved in a deeper conspiracy on that eventful night?