Thursday, May 13, 2010

Timon Week Three


We are barreling towards tech of Timon!
Very exciting.

I just found out that this will be the Boston premiere of Timon of Athens, I had no idea (I really should read the press releases once in a while...)

It's never been done professionally in this city before, which I find really hard to believe.

I'm also not sure why, exactly: it's not a bad play. It has some definite problems, sure. But it's interesting to watch. The story is quite compelling. It's wildly funny at points. and Strange and heart-breaking. Interesting to see a not well known Shakespeare play, to see him trying new things out, taking big risks as a writer (and he really does, the play is really all over the place at points!)

What is pulling us together is a sense of the difference between the first part of the play and the second part.

Our First Act, which comprises all that happens to Timon until he goes bankrupt, renounces his flattering friends and heads to the wilderness, is quite bright and colorful. A mural, which is referred to quite often at the top of the play, is up: a bright, Kandinsky-inspired piece that echoes the garish nature of Timon's surroundings and clown-like court of flattering buffoons.

Our Second Act is almost a Beckett landscape: the mural has fallen over, becoming a platform on which we stand. The world is now black and gray and vast, expanding back to the far wall that was hidden by the mural. There's even a Godot-esque leafless tree! Likewise, the tone of the play shifts to darkness, brooding and melancholy, as Timon renounces his former materialist life and curses all who come to visit him.

We begin our tech Saturday!

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