Latest news with #MrBailey'sMinder
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
This was the best Shakespeare I've seen in Sydney this century. And now it's back
Last year, one play rattled my bones like no other: Sport for Jove's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. My five-star review enthused that it had 'a truth, an energy and a ferocity to make the blood drain from your face', and a 'visceral, raw, compelling and moving' performance from Damien Ryan as Timon. Seldom performed, the play, here retitled I Hate People; Or Timon of Athens, tells of Timon being so profligately generous that he runs himself into bankruptcy, whereupon his 'friends' turn on him, so he renounces Athens and retreats to live in the 'natural' world in abject poverty. Now this production – the best Shakespeare I've seen in Sydney this century – returns. Director Margaret Thanos connected with Ryan, Sport for Jove's artistic director, when, having won the 2023 Sandra Bates Director's Award, she was the assistant director to Ryan on Ensemble Theatre's Mr Bailey's Minder. They found many convergences in their thinking, and Thanos mentioned her love of Timon, pitching her vision as 'Mount Olympus meets the Greek financial crisis', with a strong emphasis on ensemble movement. Ryan was hooked. Despite being the company's artistic director, he had to audition for the lead role. 'That was really important to both of us,' says Thanos, 'because I can say undeniably he was the best choice … His audition for this production is one of the best auditions I've ever had the privilege of witnessing in my life as a director – and I've seen hundreds of auditions in the past few years.' Ryan is also Sydney's finest and most experienced Shakespeare director, so he and Thanos arrived at an arrangement whereby in rehearsals he focused purely on his role, and only outside that room did he discuss the show's ideas with his artistic director's hat on. 'Timon is a story of an extremely wealthy man losing everything,' Thanos explains. 'It's almost a fable in its quality. The imagery of Timon stripping down to wearing nothing but little boxer shorts in that second half is extremely indicative of the destitution that he faces.' Indeed, it is as though Timon's naked soul is being mirrored in his naked body. 'We see,' she continues, 'this extravagant imagery at the beginning – the parties, the orgies, the luxury of it all – and then we move into total destitution… It's inherent in the text that he returns to this so-called natural world to reject mankind, which he perceives as un natural.' The on-site rehearsals before the show opened at Leura Everglades in January 2024 were rained out, so opening night was the first proper run.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
This was the best Shakespeare I've seen in Sydney this century. And now it's back
Last year, one play rattled my bones like no other: Sport for Jove's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. My five-star review enthused that it had 'a truth, an energy and a ferocity to make the blood drain from your face', and a 'visceral, raw, compelling and moving' performance from Damien Ryan as Timon. Seldom performed, the play, here retitled I Hate People; Or Timon of Athens, tells of Timon being so profligately generous that he runs himself into bankruptcy, whereupon his 'friends' turn on him, so he renounces Athens and retreats to live in the 'natural' world in abject poverty. Now this production – the best Shakespeare I've seen in Sydney this century – returns. Director Margaret Thanos connected with Ryan, Sport for Jove's artistic director, when, having won the 2023 Sandra Bates Director's Award, she was the assistant director to Ryan on Ensemble Theatre's Mr Bailey's Minder. They found many convergences in their thinking, and Thanos mentioned her love of Timon, pitching her vision as 'Mount Olympus meets the Greek financial crisis', with a strong emphasis on ensemble movement. Ryan was hooked. Despite being the company's artistic director, he had to audition for the lead role. 'That was really important to both of us,' says Thanos, 'because I can say undeniably he was the best choice … His audition for this production is one of the best auditions I've ever had the privilege of witnessing in my life as a director – and I've seen hundreds of auditions in the past few years.' Ryan is also Sydney's finest and most experienced Shakespeare director, so he and Thanos arrived at an arrangement whereby in rehearsals he focused purely on his role, and only outside that room did he discuss the show's ideas with his artistic director's hat on. 'Timon is a story of an extremely wealthy man losing everything,' Thanos explains. 'It's almost a fable in its quality. The imagery of Timon stripping down to wearing nothing but little boxer shorts in that second half is extremely indicative of the destitution that he faces.' Indeed, it is as though Timon's naked soul is being mirrored in his naked body. 'We see,' she continues, 'this extravagant imagery at the beginning – the parties, the orgies, the luxury of it all – and then we move into total destitution… It's inherent in the text that he returns to this so-called natural world to reject mankind, which he perceives as un natural.' The on-site rehearsals before the show opened at Leura Everglades in January 2024 were rained out, so opening night was the first proper run.
