In the world of Shakespeare was friend and competitor Christopher Marlow. Eldest son of a Canterbury shoemaker, Marlowe became famous as a translator and playwright. His dramas became 'hits' on the newly established London stage. From 1587 until he was stabbed to death in 1593 he was the center of a growing controversy. Denounced as both a Catholic and an atheist, a libertine and homosexual, he managed to write five major plays in the midst of the turmoil. He is an English Renaissance figure who played that role to the hilt.