SOURCE: Morley, Sheridan. “Lament for the Lost World.” Spectator 284, no. 8953 (11 March 2000): 49.

In the following excerpted review, Morley applauds Gregory Doran's 2000 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Timon of Athens, noting that the director celebrates this difficult play “rather than work his way around it, or even apologise for its eccentricities.”

Timon of Athens was last seen at Stratford more than 30 years ago; the production that now comes in from there to the Barbican has Michael Pennington in place of the originally cast Alan Bates, and all the joyous fascination and intrigue of a genuine rediscovery. From the moment it opens, with a Duke Ellington jazz score written for a 1963 revival at Stratford Ontario, it is clear that Greg Doran, hottest of the new generation of RSC directors, is going to celebrate a difficult play rather than work his way around it, or even apologise for its eccentricities.

Timon starts...