The Jew of Malta

Author(s): Christopher Marlowe

Genre(s): Tragedy

Narrators: Group, Ontheroad, Lars Rolander (1942-2016), Denny Sayers (d. 2015), Gesine, Michael Sirois, Daniel Hutton

Number of Chapters: 7

Length: 2 hours and 21 minutes

Language: English

Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost Elizabethan tragedian before William Shakespeare, he is known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own untimely death.

The Jew of Malta (1589) is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

The play contains a prologue in which the character Machiavel, a Senecan ghost based on Niccolò Machiavelli, introduces “the tragedy of a Jew.” (summary by Wikipedia)

Thomas Heywood: The well-known dramatist of the time has included Prologues and Epilogues both for the court and the Cock-Pit theatre “…making choice of you unto whom to devote it;” . (summary by David Lawrence)

Cast:
Ferneze, as Governor of Malta and - Lars Rolander
Lodowick, his son - Jay Saunders
Selim Calymath, son to the Grand Seignior - Damien Tavis Toman
Martin del Bosco, vice-admiral of Spain - Michael Sirois
Mathias, a gentleman - Daniel Hutton
Jacomo, a friar - Kevin Vinck
Barnardine, a friar - Aaron Elliott
Barabas, a wealthy Jew - EHehl
Ithamore, a slave - Denny Sayers
Katharine, mother to Mathias - Gesine
Abigail, daughter to Barabas - Andrea Lee
Bellamira, a courtezan - Silence
Pilia-Borza, a bully, attendant to Bellamira - CM Slosson
First Jew and First Knight - Miriam Esther Goldman
Second Jew, Second Officer, Second Knight
and Second Merchant - Ryan DeRamos
Third Jew, Slave and Carpenter - Laurie Anne Walden
Officer/First Officer - Eric J. Katowitz
Merchant/First Merchant - Anna Simon
Messenger - Lucy Perry
Machiavel, as Prologue Speaker - ontheroad
Announcer - Jennifer Stearns

Audio edited by - David Lawrence