The Marlowe Society was founded in 1907 by
Rupert Brooke and other students, with the intention of performing historical plays that were relatively unknown, as
Christopher Marlowe, the Society's namesake, was himself a lesser-known contemporary of Shakespeare's. Brooke and his fellow students were reacting against
Victorian theatre and decided to revive the presentation of
Shakespeare in Cambridge, not performed there since 1886. The Society came to specialise in Elizabethan and Jacobean revivals in uncut texts performed with their original economy and rapidity, and (in the early years) with the female roles played by men. The first successful modern production of
The White Devil, for example, was that of the Marlowe Society (ADC Theatre, Cambridge, March 1920), directed by
J. T. Sheppard, with music by
C. Armstrong Gibbs and with
Eric Maschwitz as Vittoria. “Anybody who enjoys hearing beautiful poetry beautifully spoken,” wrote the editor of the
Cambridge Review, “and tragic passion ‘with dignity put on’ should not miss this wonderful opportunity. What a magnificent play!” In August and September 1948, the Society participated in a Foreign Office tour to the ruins of Berlin, as part of a soft power bid to move hearts and minds during the
Berlin Blockade. During this Elizabethan Festival, they performed
Measure for Measure and
The White Devil. Students participating were also involved in gathering intelligence. Between 1958 and 1964, to celebrate the Centennial of 1964 as commissioned by the
British Council, the Society staged productions of the complete, uncut canon of
Shakespeare poems and plays, under the direction of
George Rylands. The Marlowe Society and
Footlights used to work closely together: frequently the annual Footlights pantomime was a parody of the Marlowe Society's serious dramatic performance earlier in the year. This performance is the one 'hosted' by the
Cambridge Arts Theatre in Cambridge. In October 2013, the Marlowe Society held a year-long festival to mark the 450th Anniversary of Marlowe's birth. Over the year, the entirety of Marlowe's works was staged in venues across Cambridge, including the annual '
Arts' Show. The Festival was launched by Michael Oakley's production of
Dido, Queen of Carthage at
Emmanuel College Chapel, followed by a gala performance at
the Senate House. In 2020, the Marlowe Society presented
Othello at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, directed by John Haidar. ==Notable figures==