'Bolt recreates an alternative life of Marlowe that compellingly views the known facts from a different angle.' Independent 'A learned and clever piece of historical investigation which cocks a snook as much at the heretics as at the orthodox' Independent on Sunday 'History Play is a triumph because ... its passion is with the search, with the idea of how our concepts of history and biography are created. History Play is, by turns, a jeu d'esprit, an examination of the idea of historical study and a play-filled novel. It made me laugh out loud. And most of all, it made me want to go back to the plays. This was a book that needed to be done perfectly or not at all. It is perfect.' The Spectator

Rodney Bolt was born in South Africa. He studied at Rhodes University, where contact with Athol Fugard sparked his interest in theatre. Before leaving the country, he worked on anti-apartheid drama. His play Gandhi: Act Too won the 1980 Durban Critic Circles's Play of the Year award. For most of his adult life he has wandered in semi-exile through Europe, living in Greece, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1980, he won a scholarship to Cambridge and read English at Corpus Christi. He has run a pub theatre and is now a travel writer and novelist.