William Shakespeare
Timon of Athens
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
A rich Athenian who gives away his fortune is abandoned by friends in debt and retreats to the woods as a bitter exile.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (99 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (87 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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All 37 plays in every format cost $99, less than 8 single Full Packages. PDFs only: $55 for all 37.
- Genre
- Tragedy
- Written
- c. 1605–1606
- Setting
- Athens and the wilderness outside it
- Scenes
- 17
- Speaking roles
- 52
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 10m
What happens in Timon of Athens
Timon is a wealthy Athenian who lavishes gifts and feasts on friends, artists and flatterers, despite warnings from his steward Flavius and the cynic Apemantus. When his money runs out, his creditors press him and the friends he has helped refuse to lend him anything. Timon throws a last banquet at which he turns on his guests.
He leaves Athens for the wilderness, where he lives in a cave and digs up a hoard of gold. Visitors, among them Apemantus, the general Alcibiades and Flavius, come to find him, and Timon uses his new wealth to fund Alcibiades' attack on the city. The play ends with Timon's death and the fate of Athens left to Alcibiades.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 52 characters speak; 32 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Timon | | 231 |
| Apemantus | | 102 |
| Flavius | | 44 |
| Alcibiades | | 40 |
| Poet | | 30 |
| First Senator | | 27 |
| Painter | | 30 |
| Second Senator | | 14 |
For directors
Timon speaks 35.8% of the words, the highest share of any lead role in this group, with Apemantus (9.8%) and Flavius (8.6%) far behind. Fifty-two speaking roles across 17 scenes, with 32 under 1%, means that most of the cast are minor parts that can be doubled heavily. At about 2 hours 10 minutes uncut, it is short, and the text is regarded as unfinished, so directors have unusual freedom.
Cutting notes
- The Poet, Painter and Jeweller scenes are often trimmed to focus on Timon.
- The text contains two epitaphs for Timon in 5.4, and productions usually choose one.
- Because the play appears unfinished, directors often cut or reorder minor scenes in the second half to improve pace.
For teachers
Typical themes include generosity and money, flattery, misanthropy, and the corrupting power of gold. Students often study Timon's banquets in 1.2 and 3.6, his curse on Athens in 4.1, and his exchange with Apemantus in 4.3. Because the text appears unfinished and is widely attributed in part to Thomas Middleton, it is also a common case study in collaboration and textual instability.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of Timon of Athens?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 17 scenes and about 17,800 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this Timon of Athens script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
