Each summer, we like to head down to Vanier Park and attend at least one of the Bard at the Beach plays. It’s always a good evening out, and this season they have 3 plays going that I want to see. Our first one was Timon of Athens, which was a play I had not seen previously. It’s not one that’s done all the frequently, but it seemed worth seeing this time.
The play was set in a modern setting - I’m not normally a huge fan of the time/place changes, but they also made an interesting change in doing a complete gender swap, taking what was an all male cast and making it all women. It worked really well, and the cast was generally quite good.
The set for the play.
The play itself I think they must have shortened, as it seemed to jump through very quickly. One aspect that it fell down on (or so I think it did) was that events were supposed to take place over a larger time/distance/location than they seemed to, within the play. I’d have to see it somewhere else to know for sure, or maybe it’s a shortcoming of the play, rather than the production.
In any case, the play flew by - always a good sign - and both of us enjoyed it. We came out of the play to an incredible sunset, which was the perfect end to the night.