Dido, Queen of Carthage

By Christopher Marlowe. Directed by James Macdonald.

Seeking refuge from a violent storm, Aeneas lands on the shores of Carthage where Queen Dido, moved by his retelling of the fall of Troy and betwitched by a malevolent Cupid, soon burns with love. Their ensuing passion, manipulated by the watching, warring gods, can only end in tragedy.

Written when he was an undergraduate, the wit, the daring and the sheer poetry of Christopher Marlowe's first play were so new and exciting in English theatre that Hamlet was still talking about it seventeen years later.