Shakespeare lovers are flocking over to Fort Point for a “double-charged” blast from the Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP). Fans who make it a life goal to see as many of the Bard’s works in performance as possible are availing themselves of the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the rarely produced “Timon of Athens.”
But playgoers to the latest ASP offering will also be able to boast that they saw the first professional directing job by Bill Barclay, whose assured and brilliant handling of this daunting material augurs a way-beyond-Boston career.
“Timon of Athens” probably wasn’t ever staged in Shakespeare’s lifetime and has been seen extremely rarely since then. The story of an overly generous ancient Greek philanthropist who goes bankrupt and turns to sabotaging his hometown mixes parable with tirades. His actions come first from a professed belief in the goodness of all people and then from a conviction in the unredeemable selfishness of all people. As his churlish buddy Apemantus observes, “The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends.”
The title character’s almost complete lack of self-reflection, very uncharacteristic of Shakespeare’s heroes, and the play’s consistently bitter and ironic tone and the allegorical painting discussed in the opening scene have scared off many directors.
But the tragedy’s exploration of prodigal spending, bankruptcy and private and political finance seemed especially suited to our increasingly discontent times. Since Shakespeare was obviously experimenting in his piece, Barclay felt more freedom to streamline the somewhat unwieldy script.
Barclay boldly conflated the cast to a mere 8, one-fifth its original size, by having actors play multiple similar minors parts and fattening up the more major parts with reassigned dialogue . He whittles the playing time down to an easy-to-take hour and fifteen minutes for each of two halves, which are staged in very different ways (following Shakespeare’s cues).
Barclay further integrates what is for most an unfamiliar work by composing appropriate music and designing a set that goes through some pretty startling transformations.
ASP’s new Artistic Director Allyn Burrows makes the title role surprisingly sympathetic and even leavens his later misanthropic decline with flashes of humor. Bobbie Steinbach plays his faithful steward, most of whose lines were apparently written by Shakespeare’s protégé, Thomas Middleton.
ASP Company veterans Steven Barkhimer and John Kuntz in two of the multi-role Greek chorus parts, cleverly mine thought-provoking chuckles.
Performances continue at the Midway Studios, 15 Channel Center Street through June 13. Details at actorshakespeareproject.org.
