SOURCE: “To the Heart of Shakespeare's Misanthrope.” Financial Times (8 March 2000): 11.

The following review of Gregory Doran's 2000 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Timon of Athens, the critic praises the production, particularly Michael Pennington's Timon, who “gives the most superlative demonstration of virtuoso, musicianly, intelligent verse-speaking to be heard in many seasons.”

In London and in Stratford-upon-Avon, all Shakespeare plays come round in due course. But Timon of Athens comes round so seldom that all lovers of Shakespeare will want to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's current production. And it will reward them.

You can easily tell why Timon is such a rarity in the theatre. Its language is dense and sometimes (“Hoar the flamen”) inaccessible. Shakespeare's version of fifth-century-bc Athens is largely peopled by people with first-century Roman names (Ventidius, Lucullus, Flavius, Sempronius). The first half of the plot often seems no more than a moral satire, more...