Timon of Athens

Out wandering on Sunday in Van Vorst park, I heard from the distant gazebo strangely familiar words and I wondered, is that Timon? Timon of Athens, the Shakespeare Tragedy and almost as famous a problem play as Titus?

Coincidently, I read Timon last month, which is why it was fresh in my mind. It’s summer and Sunday so the Hudson Shakespeare Company was rehearsing. This local troupe performs Shakespeare in the parks, al fresco without microphones (here’s a blog from two years ago).

I came in at the end of Act III and stayed for the rest of the rehearsal. I love the language and it was fun to hear it recited so well – that needs to be qualified, the kids are good but this was a rehearsal so there were pauses and stage directions and when a line was fumbled there was a pause and the actor gave a better delivery. Not deconstruction of text, but the actors did air out the text and allowed me to contemplate this provocative, timeless drama.

I consider Timon a near-great or at least, very good Shakespeare. Certainly an entertaining read.

Here’s a link to the Timon of Athens schedule of shows.

Timon of Athens – Timon is the ultimate misanthrope, but he didn’t start out that way. A noble office holder in the walled city of Ancient Athens, who in his younger years saved the city by his sword, is a kind hearted, generous man who says, “...there’s none can truly says he gives if he receives.” His altruism costs him his fortune, and when he goes to his friends to get some help paying the bills, they refuse his requests for money. They repay Timon's kindness by shunning the man. Not a good idea.

What happens when a good man is transformed into his opposite?

Timon, enraged, prays: “hear me, you good gods all – Th’ Athenians, both within and out that wall, and grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow to the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen.”

As a bitter, banished hermetic vagabond, Timon finds a large stash of gold, which he uses to fund mercenaries to relentlessly attack Athens. Under siege, his servants and former friends and fellow senators implore him to save Athens once again. Timon is the most petulant character in all of literature – you can see some of him in Ahab – and like all tragic figures, he dies at the end and writes his own epitaph: “Here lie I, Timon, who, all living men did hate, Pass by and curse they fill, but pass and stay not here thy gait.”

Harold Bloom does not think too highly of this tragedy and calls it a “cross between satire and farce.” I disagree (very rare) with the great Bardolator. Timon is a moving tragedy, a gleefully nihilistic play that resonates in our in-your-face-the-good-times-are-over culture.

It was a rehearsal, most of the players were reading from the script. The play “opens” at Van Vorst on August 12th.

Here’s a link to the Timon of Athens schedule of shows.

I thought they did an effective performance. The actor playing him seemed to channel Jim Carrey from The Cable Guy or Heath Ledger as the Joker from Dark Knight. He was animated and acerbic, a very appropriate portrayal of the antic and viscous monster Timon becomes. The scenes I saw depict Timon at the height of his petulance. The lines sounded like I thought they should be delivered. The play is fresh in my mind. Having been living with Shakespeare for the past few weeks, what a delight to hear voices other than my own – or the ones in my own head – recite the bard’s language.

To freshen up the proceedings, the setting is the roaring 20s flappers & gunsels, gangster suits & Zelda dresses, Tommy Guns & gats, derbies and fedoras. Think Boardwalk Empire. That decade of plenty ended with the disillusionment of the Great Depression.

Just like the life of Timon and more than a little like our own era (hint: we’re in the disillusionment phase.)

Find out more: http://www.hudsonshakespeare.org/