Fortune strains the bonds of friendship. Timon is a wealthy and popular aristocrat with but one flaw—an excess of generosity. Sparing no expense on lavish parties, expensive gifts, and charity, Timon later suffers a downturn of fortune and friendship. Robert Richmond (Othello, Richard III and Henry V at Folger Theatre) directs Shakespeare’s tragic satire about the fickleness of prosperity, with Ian Merrill Peakes (Othello, Macbeth, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead at Folger Theatre) in the title role.