Virtual Program | Free Shakespeare Read-Aloud Group: Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

The Shakespeare Read-Aloud is continuing online! This summer, we will meet once per month on Zoom to read plays as a group, round-robin style, just like we did when we met in person at The Rosenbach. Be sure to register to receive email instructions ahead of the meeting time.

All readers are responsible for their own internet connection and we request that all readers be video-enabled to participate.

Reading plays aloud offers not only a communal way to enjoy these great works but also promotes a deeper understanding of their poetry and wordplay. No acting experience is required to participate—just bring your voice and a copy of the play!

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!”

We’ll take a summer break from Shakespeare and read a play by one of his contemporaries. The play we’ll read at this meeting is Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe’s Faustus makes his pact with the devil for knowledge, power, and a kiss from the most beautiful woman in history.

There are two texts for this play, A-Text first published in 1604, and B-Text published in 1616. We’ll be reading the B-Text, which you can find online here at Project Gutenberg or also here at the Perseus Digital Library.

This event is completely free with advance registration. If you would like to read aloud, please select the “I’d like to be a reader!” ticket; there are fifteen spots available. If reader spots are sold out you are welcome to join the waitlist by selecting the “reader waitlist.”