Reviewed by Jasmine Crittenden
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, Timon of Athens was never performed. Some critics argue that this is because the play was incomplete. Others argue that it touched a nerve with the royal family.
Written between 1605 and 1608, just after James I had taken the English throne, the play is a portrait of Timon, a generous Athenian who showers his friends with money and gifts, but upon falling into debt, finds himself cast out. Given James I’s reputation for financial mismanagement, there’s every chance that Shakespeare’s drama may not have been welcomed on the public stage.
Whatever the case, Timon of Athens is rarely performed, even these days.And when it is, it tends to make directors want to pull their hair out.Hence, the decision of Erica Brennan and Lucy Watson, partners in production company This Hour, to make Timon of Athens their first full-length show, was an ambitious one.
Brennan and Watson make creative use of the grungy, underground space that is The Old 505 Theatre. They attempt to draw the audience into the drama even before it has begun, with a prostrate, handcuffed vagabond and a rather outspoken canine inhabiting the entrance way. The action begins outside of the theatre, in an effort to immerse the audience in the clamorous, fast-paced opening scene.We are invited in only when Timon’s famous feast begins.
Brennan has cast Felicity Nichol in the lead role. To begin, Nichol’s take on the warm-hearted, wild spending Athenianis engaging. The contrast between his maverick generosity and the responses of varying characters,from cynicism to transparent sycophancy,is achieved through effective dynamics.
However, as the play advances into darkness, through the gradual exposure of Timon’s foolishness and the ghastly hypocrisy of the once fawning masses, the production doesn’t keep up. Nichol is better at cheerful Timon than at the disillusioned cast off, and the crowd’s alteration becomes unconvincing and laboured.Perhaps more attention could have been paid to subtleties.
