‘Timothy Walker’s potent new production make this a contender for the strongest show in the Globe’s season. In it’s parts and in it’s overall vision, this is a thoroughly engaging and thoughtful production.’
Daily Mail
‘The Globe Theatre has made amends with its new version of Edward 11. Timothy Walker’s production brings out its full power. You are thoroughly gripped.’
Sunday Telegraph
Edward 11 achieves it’s success because both it’s director, Timothy Walker, and it’s protagonist, Liam Brennan, have prior experience of playing Shakespeare here. This Edward 11 … both unpretentious and canny … reaches zones of conflict, authority and anguish that bring Marlowe’s play into a more tragic condition than I had known it could attain.’
Financial Times
‘A deeply suggestive production worth seeing for it’s solid serious attention to the play’s dark heart – and in its dynamic use of this unique space. Looking up at the night sky, you can ponder how queasily relevant to modern day Britain are Marlowe’s themes: homophobia; the viciousness of the establishment when it perceives itself to be under threat – and the sordid tangle of class, power and sex.’
The Guardian
‘Timothy Walker’s fluid and emotionally powerful Edward 11, is a fine production. It’s all curiously modern. Marlowe’s scenes overlap and segue like edits in a film. It’s a story grippingly told.’
Mail on Sunday
‘Marlowe’s radical Renaissance drama … given an epic, authentic sweep in Timothy Walker’s galvanising all-male production.’
Sunday Express
‘The production is performed in period costume but the dramatic vision seems modern. The Globe’s forte is airing lesser-known Renaissance dramas such as this.’
Independent on Sunday
‘This is the year’s most successful sexing up. Edward 11 plays gloriously on sexuality and gender without trampling on the ambiguities of Marlowe’s text. The production brims with eroticism from the moment it kicks off.
TLS online
‘Timothy Walker’s full-throttle production of Christopher Marlowe’s sympathetic chronicle play is the first I have seen to make vividly apparent why Edward 11’s gay obsession for Gaveston destroys his ability to keep the throne or save his own life. Walker’s production, with atmospheric musical support, powerfully achieves something new – a fresh revelatory sexual charge.’
Evening Standard
‘Marlowe’s depiction of regicide has earned the director of the present production, Timothy Walker, his stage-king Liam Brennan and company only praise and applause.‘
Times Literary Supplement
‘A triumphant all-male production of Marlowe’s Edward 11 is just what he would have wanted.’
Metro
‘Right from the start of Timothy Walker’s gorgeously costumed doublet-and- hose production the performances are all impeccable, in an ensemble production that brings alive an entire medieval hierarchy, where the conflict between transgressive sexuality, class and power was just as explosive as it is today.’
What’s on in London
‘This is the Globe’s best production so far this season.’
Morning Star
‘Amazing dramatic frisson … This revival reminds us of Marlowe’s accessibility and the wonderful simplicity of his verse. Timothy Walker’s vocally powerful all-male production underlines the emotional and physical violence of the age’
The Glasgow Herald
‘The Globe’s second Marlowe production of the season (and indeed of it’s life so far) is not only much better than the first, but is also virtually it’s antithesis. Nothing is rushed, and every nuance or development is allowed to register its impact. One rather unexpected result of this was that my son, aged 10, pronounced this the best play he had ever seen, because it was so exciting and eventful.’
Early Modern Literary Studies
‘There is a glorious rhythmic, stamping dance with Maori echoes recreating Edward’s battles, with mimed clashing of broadswords and choreographed battle lines.
I was blown away by the beauty and clarity of Marlowe’s blank verse. Edward 11 is an outstanding example of the use of the Globe’s space to perform a rare masterpiece play and should get the large and appreciative audience it deserves.’
Curtain Up
‘An excellent choice for the Globe … rattling along at considerable pace under the direction of Timothy Walker’
The Stage
‘This summer, contemporary sensibilities have nowhere been more vividly exposed than with a powerful new staging of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward 11.
This is not a casual reading by Master of Play, Timothy Walker, but rather a poignant reminder of how a lifestyle that exists outside institutionalised ‘norms’ can lead to political vulnerability.’
Plays International
Critics Choice:
Sunday Telegraph, ‘Timothy Walker’s production brings out its full power’
Curtain Up, ‘Chilling, disturbing, heart rending’
The Guardian, ‘Captivating’
Mail on Sunday, ‘Gripping’
What’s On, ‘Impeccable’
Metro, ‘Triumphant’
Time Out, ‘Lively’
Daily Mail, ‘Potent’