There are a number of Shakespeare’s plays that I love and there are a few I don’t much care for. The ones I love have characters or scenarios that I think are just expertly written and says something about the characters in ways that resonate for audiences even centuries later.
But then there’s Timon of Athens, a late tragedy that, well, I can’t say I have any strong feelings for one way or the other.
Notable cast members: The big one here is Jonathan Pryce as Timon, and he’s one of those actors who’s been in just about everything so seeing him in one of these isn’t all that surprising. In a couple lesser roles, we have Tony Jay, a man with a very familiar voice especially if you’ve seen Disney’s animated version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as a merchant, and the original unmasked Anikin Skywalker Sebastian Shaw as an old man.
Trivia: Despite the fact the play is set in Ancient Greece, costumes for this one are more Elizabethan/Jacobean English. And for the scene when Timon loses it at a feast, Pryce was encouraged to improvise since he wasn’t sure what to do. That’s tricky for TV since cameras have to be set to just the right spot to catch the right moments, but the end result here is the cameraman had to somehow keep pace with Pryce’s outsized reaction as he raged about the set, and he managed to do so for something like 90% of the freak out.
The play: Timon of Athens is just a really odd play in my mind. Timon is a wealthy Athenian, beloved by all, who gives regular, elaborate feasts for his many friends and benefactors. The only man in town who seems inclined to tell Timon this is foolish is the local cynical philosopher Apemantus. Apemantus believes these men (and it’s all men) are only Timon’s friends because he’s wealthy and generous. If Timon were to lose his fortune, would he also lose his friends? Timon doesn’t believe so or that he is in danger of losing his fortune. Apemantus says that everyone will abandon him.
But yeah, Timon is way too generous and soon runs out of money, and he learns to his dismay Apemantus was correct. These guys only came over for his free food and generous gifts.
So, Timon moves outside the city to squat on the ground and dig his own grave. If anyone comes by, Timon insults the person savagely, even Apemantus who says Timon stole his shtick. Eventually, Timon finishes digging his own grave (even finding a treasure chest at one point but he doesn’t really care), dies off stage, and somehow he filled in the hole and put up a tombstone after he died. And…that’s pretty much it.
To be honest, and even with Pryce doing well in the title role and Norman Rodway pretty much rocking the role of Apemantus, I have no idea what to make of this one. Timon spends half the play railing against humanity, but did we get enough to get a feel for him as a character to begin with? Was there a point to this? That a generous man grew better, said everyone sucked, and then he died? Unlike other plays of lesser quality, like Coriolanus or A Comedy of Errors, I can’t say that I have particularly strong feelings for this one. It’s just a play that somewhat exists. It has its good points, some fine speeches, but the central character is just there for me. So, really, there isn’t much for any good production of Timon of Athens to suck me in. Timon himself is just a two note character. The first note is generous and trusting or other people, and the second is the opposite. And I think Shakespeare spent way too much time trying to build something out of that.
Grade: Yeah, this production was fine, but the play itself is only so-so, so there’s only so much they can do with that. C+
Next: We’ve got another big one, a play that is sort of a sequel to an earlier one, but it doesn’t look like the BBC had any cast holdovers from before. So, next we get to see Antony and Cleopatra.
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