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Timon of Athensis nobodys favorite Shakespeare.
Okay, so itsrelatable.But its also sloppy, a pale reflection of plays Shakespeare was writing at the time.
Dating it is uncertain, butKing LearandCoriolanusandAntony and Cleopatrawere probablyTimons coevals, which spoiled the 17th-century theaters for choice.
(Theres little evidence that it was even performed in his lifetime.)
But even hunger doesnt make this nasty, downhearted play taste sweet.
Its light is reflected light, but you might still read the world by it.
Timon is a rich man.
Or, in director Simon Godwins version, a rich and spectacularly generous woman.
(At one point, shes so bitchy about money that three thieves voluntarily renounce their profession.)
Casting Hunter was a masterstroke.
InTimon,the playwrights are stingy with such moments.
And he makes the conversion of the thievesTimons accidental act as moral saviorland with surprising weight.
Im not saying this is a great play.
But you have to meet a line like that with your whole life.
According to modern scholarship,Timon of Athensis probably 40 percent Middleton, 60 percent Shakespeare.
The verbiage quants find Middletons compositional signature in the early sectionsthe urban satire, in particular.
Not that his co-author was being particularly cheerful.
Timon, though, goes into the earth instead of the sky.
He digs for two straight acts.
Did you catch that?
Timon just told us that hes been standing breast-high in shit.
Even Beckett wasnt that dark.
Sounds exaggerated, right?
But we know what the wealthy do when they feel cheated and insulted.
A morsel of disrespect makes them want to burn everything down.
Timon invites Alcibiades to murder all of Athens.
Timon of Athensis at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center through February 9.
