Timon of Athens
1981: Jonathan Miller

This is the BBC version of the play, with Jonathan Pryce (Juan Peron in Evita; Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes, and a long raft of other productions), a long-time figure of the English stage and screen in the title role. It is somewhat engaging, I suppose; I have yet to see a version of the play that I could really connect with. The acting is fine; the premise is by turns excruciating and preposterous, and both the pain and the ludicrous elements are strung out to such extremes that the audience’s patience must sooner or later wear thin.

My misgivings about the play itself notwithstanding, Jonathan Pryce’s performance of the lead role — and it really is a play sustained chiefly by a single lead performance — is beyond outstanding. He covers the entire range between the flattering and manipulable early version of Timon to the later embittered version with equal flair and presence. You are in the domain of a very fine actor indeed, and if there were no other reason to see this performance, that would be enough.

There are (for good reasons, I think) very few versions of this play to see, and even though they are really pretty well made, they aren’t enough to make me find a resonant note in it. But if you want to see it — and the experience is not without its rewards, if only for an appreciation of stagecraft and acting — either this version or the Canadian Stratford one will do relatively well.

Buy the complete BBC Shakespeare Plays at Amazon. Note that this will require a Region 2 player or a region-free player: it will not play on most normal American DVD players. Nevertheless, the price is so reasonable that even with a region-free player thrown into the deal, you’ll come out ahead.

Buy the BBC Shakespeare Plays Tragedies Giftbox at Amazon. Unlike the complete series, this is in a North American video format, and it includes five plays: Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, King Lear, Timon of Athens, and Titus Andronicus.

Buy the complete set of the BBC Shakespeare Plays or individual plays (including this one) in Region 1 format direct from Ambrose Video.