'Good Omens' with Shakespeare: OKC theater among first to stage hot show 'Born with Teeth'

A pair of up-and-coming local actors portray two of the most acclaimed playwrights in the history of the English language in the Oklahoma premiere of a hot new show.

"No pressure whatsoever," quipped Tyler John Malinauskas, the 2019 Oklahoma City University graduate from Kansas who portrays none other than William Shakespeare in Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park's new production of "Born with Teeth." 

Set in London in the 1590s, "Born with Teeth" takes viewers behind closed doors for a fact-meets-fiction look into the relationship between Shakespeare and fellow English playwright Christopher “Kit” Marlowe, played in the OKC production by Justin Marlow.

"I would say to the audience, 'Come in with an open mind.' I don't think anything could prepare you for what you're going to see. I don't think you've seen Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe like this before," said Marlow, a recent University of Oklahoma graduate originally from Los Angeles.

Oklahoma Shakespeare's 39th season is shifting inside its recently renovated black-box theater in the Paseo Arts District to stage the Sooner State premiere of Liz Duffy Adams' acclaimed new show in a limited OKC run through Nov. 19.

How does 'Born with Teeth' portray William Shakespeare?

The OKC production of "Born with Teeth" is directed by Shawn Churchman, who starred in Oklahoma Shakespeare's 2019 staging of another historical fiction show about Shakespeare, Lauren Gunderson’s play “The Book of Will."

Billed as a "quick-witted punk-inspired fantasia," "Born with Teeth" is set at a dangerous time for poets, with an aging ruler, an oppressive police state and a restless, polarized people seething with paranoia. Still, the acclaimed Marlowe and up-and-comer Shakespeare meet up to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigate the perils of making art under a totalitarian regime and flirt like young men with everything to lose.

"It's Liz Duffy Adams, and I love her plays. Her language is so sharp and smart," said Oklahoma Shakespeare Executive and Artistic Director Kathryn McGill, who starred in the long-running company's 2017 production of Adams' "Or."

"It's a really interesting play that takes place in a back room at a pub as they meet over the years and we see their relationship grow."

Oklahoma Shakespeare is one of the first theaters in the country to stage 'Born with Teeth'

"Born with Teeth" is the second Sooner State premiere Oklahoma Shakespeare is producing this season, following its summer staging of "Shakespeare in Love."

But while "Shakespeare in Love," the stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1998 film, has been around for almost a decade, "Born with Teeth" just had its world premiere last year at the Alley Theatre in Houston.

That production, directed by Rob Melrose, moved to Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater earlier this year and will move again to Florida's Asolo Repertory Theater in February-March 2024 and Oregon Shakespeare Festival in March-October 2024.

The play had its second production in September at Aurora Theater Company in Berkeley, California, and is now headed to OKC.

Co-stars Malinauskas and Marlow chatted with The Oklahoman about working on such a new play, portraying two icons of English literature and sharing the stage in the two-person show:

Q: Can you talk about working on a show that's so new?

Malinauskas: Especially at Oklahoma Shakespeare, we're playing characters in shows that have been done too many times to count. So, when I step into a role that I may not have done before, there is almost like an entire encyclopedia of information that I can go and research myself to see how people interpret these lines, how they interpret these characters. So, that's a little bit of a comfort.

But at the same time, it can paint you into a box, because if you don't necessarily identify with something that somebody else identifies, then you you might feel frustrated — or sometimes feel like you're not doing it right. ...

When you have nothing to go off of, when you have nothing to really influence your creation of this character, it's like you're you're swimming in open waters a little bit. But at the same time, it makes it so exciting,

Marlow: It's a double-edged sword. It's scary and liberating at the same time. We're jumping into this thing that no one in Oklahoma has done before, so we're bringing this show to Oklahomans. It's not like people can come and see it like our 'R&J' ('Romeo & Juliet'), and they're like, 'Oh, we know how this ends. We know they die.' Here, they come in, 'We don't know what's going to happen to Kit Marlowe and Shakespeare.'

So, it's really cool that we get to tell the story kind of for the first time, and we get to create these characters quote-unquote from the ground up, since these guys did exist. But we get to use our imagination of, 'What if these things actually did happen?'

Q: How do you prepare for playing a legendary playwright?

Malinauskas: Not looking at the name of the character that I'm playing. ... We spent a lot of time doing table work and really discussing exactly what period in Will's life this takes place, and how that shapes his point of view and shapes his motivation through each scene.

Because it doesn't take place when he's made a name for himself, that's for sure. It takes place when he's trying to do so. That seems to have been very easy to identify with, considering I am an actor trying to make something of myself at the time.

Marlow: The play itself takes (place) over three years, so figuring out what each of those years was like for Kit and how that affected him was a big part of that. He's kind of a rock star of the time, especially in the first year. So, for me, personally, I'm listening to a lot of rock, listening to a lot of like Greta Van Fleet. ... Kit's like the frontman of a band: He just has the charisma, the swagger.

Q: Kit is the more famous of the two characters in the time frame of this show, but now, people who know his name likely know him as a friend of Shakespeare. Is it interesting playing with that dynamic?

Marlow: Just because of modern times, that's how we think. But when we start the play, it's the reverse: It's Shakespeare's (that) the friend of Marlowe. So, it's just funny how it starts off then to how it flipped to now — and how all the events of the play led to now (with) Kit being the friend of Shakespeare. But it really is funny how he's the lesser known when he was so on top.

Malinauskas: The arc of the characters throughout the show couldn't be more prevalent. I think that, especially with a two-man show — like this or with 'True West' or 'The Pillowman' — we love to see changes as an audience. And I think that there's so much change in these characters. There's so much growth and reevaluation of the status quo that it just makes it so captivating from start to finish.

Q: There are some timely elements in the description of the play, with the description of a polarized, restless populace. Does it feel like the story is relevant?

Malinauskas: Yeah, I think so. ... We're in the middle of the Wars of the Roses, which is an incredibly volatile time in England's history, where it basically depends on which monarch is in power at the time to decide what religion everybody needs to be.

So, there is an incredible importance on us to make sure that the audience knows the exposition and understands the stakes before we really get into the meat and potatoes, because it's easy to get lost in this really, really good dialogue that the playwright has given us. But we don't want to lose that intensity that she's also created for us.

Marlow: It a really goes into what lengths people go (to) for their own survival. I think that one hits home: What are you willing to do to get yourself out of a situation?

The play even goes into a little bit about the plague of the time, which I think is really relevant to now with COVID. How did that affect art and theaters and artists? So, that's, I think, a little fun Easter egg the playwright went into: how it does affect artists and what happens to art when we become isolated.

Q: Since 'Born with Teeth' is so new, what would you say to someone whose never heard of it to convince them to give the show a chance?

Malinauskas: My first elevator pitch would be, 'Have you ever seen "Good Omens" with David Tennant ... and Michael Sheen.' And if they said, 'yes,' I'd be like, 'Imagine it with Shakespeare.'

And if they hadn't seen 'Good Omens,' I would say 'Spy thriller. Questioning sexuality. Incredibly clever dialogue, all packed into an hour and 15 minutes.'

Marlow: I'd ask, 'How much is your best friend worth to you?' And then, depending on that answer, I'd say, 'What would you do, if you were in a life-or-death scenario? Would you put yourself above them? Or would you let them go?' And now, 'If you were in love with them, what would happen there?' ... A lot of those questions do get asked in this show, and that's really the beautiful thing: We see two strangers who know each other briefly through their own work, come together, come close, and then — well, you'll have to see the show to see the rest.

'BORN WITH TEETH'

• When: Through Nov. 19.

• Where: Oklahoma Shakespeare's black-box theater, 2920 Paseo.

• Tickets: https://www.okshakes.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC theater's hot new show puts Shakespeare in 'life-or-death scenario'