The Reckoning
of Kit & Little Boots
Written by Nat Cassidy
Directed by Gus Menary
at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map)
thru March 2 | tickets: $ | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read review
Potentially interesting character study suffers from identity crisis
First Floor Theater presents
The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots
Review by Patrick Dyer
Poor Christopher Marlowe. He was the Elizabethan era’s prime dramatist, his works like Doctor Faustus and Dido, Queen of Carthage were highly popular, and he even managed to influence the greatest dramatist in the English language, William Shakespeare. But his mysterious early death and Shakespeare’s rise to prominence worked against Marlowe, bringing his years of fame and glory to a close (at least until his works were rediscovered later on). So a man with such a powerful backstory would lead to a fascinating character study like The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots, right?
The problems with The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots are apparent from the start: it suffers from an identity crisis. Playwright Nat Cassidy’s script switches from an intimate character study of Marlowe himself to an absurdist exploration of the artistic process to vulgar comedy. So much is happening in the script and onstage that it simply devolves into overkill. Director Gus Menary’s environment for the play never really solidifies enough for the audience to get engrossed as his pacing is too fast and choppy. The sudden shifts in time and place become muddled, and the lack of atmosphere doesn’t help either.
Marlowe himself is as not fleshed out as the play wants him to be as he’s always having to take a backseat to a bunch of characters from his own life and the life of Caligula. We see snippets of his life that we honestly could get from just a simple Google search (ie: his atheism, his homosexuality, his family life, etc.). That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, but we never see Marlowe go through any significant change throughout the play (and if he does, the play doesn’t take it seriously enough). This makes The Reckoning feel cold and distant, and I’m not sure if that was the intent. Marlowe could make for a complex protagonist, but his personality and intentions are flat. In fact, his interactions with Shakespeare – the most potentially interesting concept in the entire play – are played just for laughs with Shakespeare acting like a drunk who just happens to be the greatest dramatist in the English language.
The cast maneuvers around the play’s lack of focus and the production’s lack of seriousness, but only just a bit. Ahmed is appropriately overreaching and bombastic as Marlowe (as the play points out at the very end), but struggles to make his role any more dynamic beyond the script’s limitations. Parker as Caligula has fun with the insane emperor but succumbs to focusing more on making the audience laugh rather than engaging them. Yendler is an appropriately (or not appropriately) drunken fool as the Bard but has a tendency to speed through his lines. Lutz as Kyd can’t manage to stand out among the rest of the cast and struggles with his Cockney accent. Davis and Cornelius-Schecter have the most superfluous characters, but neither are able to really differentiate from their multiple roles. Thomas as both Walsingham and Julius Caesar has the most dignity and restraint out of everyone and manages to overcome the faults in the script.
When The Reckoning was over, I walked out of the theater learning very little about Marlowe, feeling very little, and wondering what the play was really trying to say. And that’s a shame, really, because there is potential for this to be a fascinating character study of a playwright lost to the sands of time. But if you want your protagonist to be taken seriously, you must first treat your play about your protagonist seriously.
Rating: ★★
The Reckoning… continues through March 2nd at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map), with performances Fridays at Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $10-$20, and are available online through BrownPaperTickets.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at FirstFloorTheater.com.
Photos by Sid Branca
artists
cast
Kate Cornelius-Schetcher (Anne Marlow, Aggripina), Owais Ahmed (Christopher “Kit” Marlowe), Sarah C. Davis (Dorothy Marlowe, Drusilla), Garrett Lutz (Thomas Kyd, Tiberius Caesar), Tim Parker (Caligula), Alfred Thomas (Francis Walsingham, Julius Caesar), Dav Yendler (William Shakespeare, Augustus Caesar)
behind the scenes
Gus Menary (director), Lindsay Bartlett (dialect coach), Molly FitzMaurice (set design), David Federman (lighting design), Andrew Rovner (sound design), Alexis Chaney, Caroline Gelber (costume design), TJ Heins (props design), Emmett Rensin (dramaturg), Markie Gray (production manager), Kelly Butler (stage manager), Amanda Fink (fight choreographer), Sid Branca (photos)
14-0214
