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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2005)
iuly 15.2005 » 37 THEATER t’s not hard to name contemporary play wrights who are gay: Edward Albee, Tony Kushner and Terrence McNally spring readi ly to mind. But the tradition goes back all the way to Elizabethan times. Christopher Marlowe, playwright, poet, atheist, spy and lover of men, was bom the same year as William Shakespeare. He was poised to be the great dramatic voice of his age when an assassi nation plot disguised as a tavern brawl cut short his life. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ash land is celebrating Marlowe’s life and work this summer. His most famous play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, is on stage at the Eliz abethan Theater through Oct. 7. Stanford University scholar David Riggs, whose recent biography The World of Christopher Marlowe has been widely praised, will present one of the fes tival’s Ntxin Lectures on Aug. 5. The title of his talk is “Re-Inventing Doctor Faustus.” Even if only a fraction of the stories and rumors about Marlowe are true, he led a color- ' ful, exciting life. Riggs argues in his btxik that most of the stories are credible. A poor boy by birth, Marlowe managed to get an education and eventually earn an advanced degree from Cambridge University. His achievement is all the more remarkable because he was an avowed atheist, and the uni versity was run by religious authorities. Mar lowe, however, had powerful friends. Queen Elizabeth herself offered him support and protection, no doubt in return for his loyal service as a spy. Her Privy Council interceded directly with the university and requested that he be awarded his master’s degree. He was also denounced to the authorities as a homosexual, probably by one of his lovers. The devil's advocate I eatingout eatingout Oregon Shakespeare Festival celebrates gay playwright Christopher Marlowe by A ndy S imon lowe: It’s the first dramatic account of the not- so-good doctor who sold his soul to the devil for 24 years of knowledge and power. The play does not have an overtly gay theme; in fact, at its climax the title character conjures Helen of Troy to fulfill his amorous desires. (If you’re looking for queer content, Stark Raving Theatre coincidentally is restaging Joseph Fisher’s contemporary version of the classic dilemma in Faust. Us. (Version 2.0) through Aug. 6. Gay director and composer Matthew B. Zrebski cranks up the camp with a Mephistopheles who’s positively flaming, so to speak.) Marlowe’s Faustus does not tri umph. As is typical of the “moral” plays of the time, he is carted off to hell in the end. Yet he is decidedly a hero, if only for refusing to give in. Despite the damnation that awaits him, he remains true to himself, or at least to the choice he made when he entered his pact with the devil. jM Yet he was not prosecuted. Eventually, however, he fell from favor with the queen. His involvement in murder plots, counterfeiting, street fighting and atheist proselytizing may have been a factor. It is well-known that he was killed in a tavern brawl, but there is good evi dence that the stabbing was arranged by the queen’s agents. Amid his life of adventure and intrigue, Marlowe man aged to make a major contri bution to English literature. T he T ragical H istory of D octor He invented blank verse as a F austus plays through Oct. 7 at the Christopher Marlowe led a colorful Faustus (Jonathan Haugen) summons form of dramatic speech that Elizabethan Theater, 15 S. Pioneer St. life full of murder plots, gave his plays lyrical beauty Mephistopheles (Ray Porter) to arrange in Ashland. Tickets are $21,75'$65 counterfeiting, street fighting and and emotional depth. The the selling of his soul to Lucifer in The from 541 -482'4331 or atheist proselytizing. plays were immediate hits. Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. www. < rrshakes. org. A young actor from Stratford- F aust . U s . (V ersion 2.0) plays on-Avon adopted the form and used it in his was widely perceived as a weak and corrupt through Aug. 6 at Stark Raving Theatre, own plays. We all know where that led. monarch owing largely to his devotion to one 2257 N.W. Raleigh St. Tickets are $10'$20 Though by no means openly gay, Marlowe’s then to another of his male courtiers. As the from 503'232'7072; Thursdays are “pay what sexual orientation influenced his work. He title of Marlowe’s play suggests, his account of you can.” wrote one of the first historical dramas focused the king is more nuanced and more sympathet on an English king, The Troublesome Reign and ic than prevailing views. 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