three days at Friends...

now over, kind of exhausted. Some sessions afterwards, one of them in the snack bar at the park on the west end of 145st street. A sports center among other things, open until 11:00. Lots of action. I had a nice blt at the snack bar. Kind of frenetic, yet it is always interesting to see what is happening in places I have not yet visited.
  Yesterday evening, despite being tired I went to see Timon of Athens at the Theater for the New Audience. They now have a massive theater near BAM---again, as with so many other not for profits their list of donors is very strong. Where do all these people with money come from? Why are they so willing to give to this theater--whose work, in my opinion is "spotty" but this year has made some pretty daring choices in their projects. Timon is very rarely presented---the last production that I saw of it was at the Public, somewhere in the low 2000s,  and featured a really good performance as Titus by Richard Thomas. This production, first done in England a few years ago, has a female Titus---A wealthy woman courted by all of Rome, until it is found out that her investments have faltered, then she turns to the friends who flattered her and finds out that they will not help her. In Act II (actually the second part of the play) she lives in a cave on the outskirts of Rome as a penniless homeless person. Now she hates everyone, and expects nothing from anyone. A tough contradiction between the two acts, the other two productions that I saw recently (the one with Thomas and one in Central Park that starred Michael Cumpsty) stressed the first act, and made the second a little more then an intellectual contrast to the first. This production tries to take the second act head on---the result is a very strong vision for that act, and a strong performance by Ms. Hunter in the title role. She is an English actress, surrounded by American actors in the ensemble. The ensemble is, for the most part, very strong--sometimes Ms. Hunter's acting seems a bit to intellectual and studied, compared to their more visceral approach, but she has strength and power in Act II. A very strong decision by her and her director to make this act the dominant one. Like I said, the ensemble around Ms. Hunter is very strong---some quibbles but basically I was glad that I saw the play. A lot to think about---written about the same time, I think, as King Lear, but its vision is more stripped down and it lacks the passion of Lear.
  Not much else to report. Tonight I think I will go to the Abrons Arts Center and try to see a project there---a two character discussion about race between a white man and a black women. Then probably stop off at La Flaca to hang out. Tomorrow is totally free, at this point, I like that, and there are no football playoffs to build the structure of the day around. That means I can do as I please, after I spend a little bit of time at Cobra (at least that is the plan now). Will report soon.