Renaissance Drama Festival: Adapting Christopher Marlowe.

Abstract

As part of the coursework within the optative subject “William Shakespeare y el Teatro Renacentista”, taught in the final year of the degree in English Studies at the University of Málaga, students were asked to creatively engage with Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta by adapting the play to a contemporary context. The aim of the task is to encourage students to explore how the themes, characters, and conflicts in Marlowe’s work – such as religious prejudices, Machiavellian ambition, identity, betrayal, and the blurry lines between ‘micro’ and ‘macro’cosms – continue to influence today’s society and culture. By reimagining the play in a modern setting, students gain insight into the universality and atemporality of certain plots as well as into the many ways in which classic texts can still resonate in current socio-political realities. All proposals for adaptations are assessed in English (as the subject is taught in this language). Assessment is also focused on the students’ ability to interpret the original material thoughtfully and bring its core thematic concerns into the present.