DIRECTOR Ruby Clarke brings one of Shakespeare’s less familiar but very topical plays to the De Grey Rooms Ballroom from tomorrow night, promising a challenging, entertaining and visually mesmerising piece of theatre for the York International Shakespeare Festival.

"Timon Of Athens is a tale of wealth and excess; the gregarious, affluent and ultimately doomed Timon," she says. "Naive and feckless, Timon is the epitome of philanthropy, giving away his money to those around him and throwing lavish parties for the upper echelons of Athenian society, but his money is running out. When Timon turns to those friends he has gifted, the response is not what he might have expected."

Timon Of Athens is an often-neglected work, one that was said to be co-written with Thomas Middleton. "It's widely assumed it wasn't performed much even in Shakespeare's day, so maybe he didn't want it on stage," says Ruby. "It doesn't feel finished either, so we've done a lot of editing to tie things up, like the National Theatre did for its Simon Russell Beale production."

Leading the cast as the tragic protagonist Timon will be John Hoyland, last seen as Jesus in the Crucifixion as part of 2014 York Mystery Plays on pageant wagons. He is candid in his assessment of Timon, but positive too. "As blunt as I can be, it's a mess! That's what I thought when I read it, and then when we did the read-through with a group of actors, it really hammered home just how all over the place it is, but actually what we've done has made it quite coherent."

So Ruby, apart from York Shakespeare Project's avowed intent to stage all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, what are your reasons for wanting to direct Timon Of Athens?

"It presents universal ideas about money, power and relationships that draw stark comparisons to our contemporary society. The play is essentially a moral fable that discusses moral issues that remain relevant to audiences today, particularly in the light of current international financial instability," she says.

"So the theme is money and what it does to you; how rich people can't see that people love them only for their money; how people who know nothing other than lots of money don't understand the struggles of those who don't have money.

"It would be interesting, if David Cameron does understand money in that way, whether he would have a breakdown like Timon. Though it's not just David Cameron, but Rupert Murdoch, Richard Branson too, or any bigwig; what would they do in Timon's situation?"

Bringing Timon’s tale to the ornate setting of the De Grey Rooms Ballroom suits Ruby's decadent vision for her production perfectly. "I've drawn themes from across history to represent the story; from characters such as F Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby and post-cold war Russian oligarchs to the settings of Beverly Hills mansions and London’s Canary Wharf, proving the play is a timeless work," she says.

To represent Timon’s extravagant lifestyle on stage, Ruby and designer Ruby Savage have taken inspiration from filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, director of such cinematic playgrounds as William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (CORRECT), Moulin Rouge! and 2013's The Great Gatsby, using contemporary music and large-scale movement pieces to complement the text and bring the party atmosphere to the stage.

In a first for York Shakespeare Project, movement director and choreographer Madeline Shann has created show-stopping sequences and injected physicality into the ensemble story-telling of this modern-day fairy tale, having worked with York Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden on iShandy (CORRECT) in 2013.

"When a play is little known like Timon, I could really do what I wanted with it, such as adding movement," says Ruby. "I could be spectacular with it. Let's have spectacle; let's have an extravaganza; let's have a party with it."

"The first half is mostly partying, but then it turns very dark," says John.

"That's why it struck me it's very like The Great Gatsby," says Ruby. "It's the only Shakespeare play where the title role has no love interest and no family. As in Gatsby, where he throws these big parties, how much connection does Timon really have with people?"

Joining John Hoyland in Ruby's cast will be Cat Hall, playing the cynical philosopher Apemantus; Paul French, from YSP's Alls Well That Ends Well in 2014, as the stoic soldier Alcibiades; and Lucy Simpson, from York Settlement Community Players' The Stepmother and Rohilla, as Timon’s faithful servant Flavius.

The core ensemble is made up of YSP veterans Nick Jones and Harold Mozley, plus Sandra Rowan, Keith Rowan, Rachael Price, Elizabeth Sharrock, Imogen Little, Ross Hunter, Ellen Cole, Naomi Lombard and Janice Barnes-Newton.

York International Shakespeare Festival presents York Shakespeare Project in Timon Of Athens, at De Grey Rooms Ballroom, York, tomorrow until Sunday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk