Was at Stratford a few weeks ago, and caught Ian Donaldson playing Timon in Timon of Athens. He gave it a good shot, but I can see why the play isn’t put on much.
The first half was the more interesting one, building up to Timon’s realization that all he’d understood about himself and his friends was completely misguided, but the second half consisted mainly of ranting at humanity, without much in the way of character development. Very symmetrical in approach, and hence predicatable. Program notes and the Arden edition both suggest that ol’Will never finished the play, that it’s just a first draft, and that made sense to me since it didn’t have the depth of characterization and situation that W.S. normally gives us. For one thing, no major female roles at all - the only women were prostitutes and dancing girls.
They played it in a modern setting, and the emphasis on wealth and hypocritical greedy friends worked well against dark business suits. Second half had strong echoes of Beckett in the simplicity of the set and the rants. (That’s not a really a compliment coming from me, since I’m not at all fond of Beckett!)
So overall, I get to cross Timon off the list of Shakespeare’s plays that I’ve seen, and won’t have to worry about it any more. Unfortunately I won’t be able to fit in King John and Henry VIII, which they’re also playing this season - it seems to be “obscure Shakespeare year” at Stratford.