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 | | All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays by David Ives ISBN-10: 9780679759287 ISBN-10: 0-679-75928-X ISBN-13: 9780679759287 ISBN-13: 978-0-679-75928-7 Paperback 1994-11-08 Vintage Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The world according to David Ives is a very add place, and his plays constitute a virtual stress test of the English language -- and of the audience's capacity for disorientation and delight. Ives's characters plunge into black holes called "Philadelphias," where the simplest desires are hilariously thwarted. Chimps named Milton, Swift, and Kafka are locked in a room and made to re-create Hamlet. And a con man peddles courses in a dubious language in which "hello" translates as "velcro" and "fraud" comes out as "freud." At once enchanting and perplexing, incisively intelligent and side-splittingly funny, this original paperback edition of Ives's plays includes "Sure Thing," "Words, Words, Words," "The Universal Language," "Variations on the Death of Trotsky," "The Philadelphia," "Long Ago and Far Away," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "Seven Menus," "Mere Mortals," "English Made Simple," "A Singular Kinda Guy," "Speed-the-Play," "Ancient History," and "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread." "Theater that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart...Ives is a mordant comic who has put the play back in playwright." -- Time | ||
Reviews | ||
A fun read Ives is original and funny, with an acute sense of satire and irony. I chose the book as a text for an EFL course, for which it is not really suited, but I have greatly enjoyed reading the plays all the same. Recommended. | ||
Looking at the script from a director's point of view I bought this script because it is on my community theatre's schedule to perform in March. I was very surprised with how I little I liked the script in its entirety. I am familiar with Sure Thing because I worked on it in college, and was expecting more of the same...quick witted, funny pieces that would easily make for a night of entertainment. Honestly, due to content and language, I don't see how we can perform many of these plays on our stage. I know that the scholars are going to bash me, but from a director's point of view, I vote to shelf this one. No audience is going to want to sit through all 14 of these plays when most won't make much sense to them. They want to be entertained and walk away with a thought other than confusion at the end of the night. This script is perfect for college theatre, but that doesn't make me like it any more. | ||
A wonderful collection I've been a fan of Ives since I first did a piece of his, about a man who thinks he's a typewriter, in an acting class. I saw easily the best production of "Sure Thing" ever a couple years ago. His humor is sometimes subtle, sometimes absurd, but is always entertaining. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who'd love a good laugh at the absurdities of life. | ||
A must have for all theater people Actors, directors and playwrights alike must all read this book. This is possibly the wittiest and greatest examples of modern comedic theater in a long, long time. Ives is a must-have. I mean, *everyone* needs to read or see this collection performed. "Words, words, words", "Sure thing" and "Variations on the death of Trotsky" are clever but at the same time contain a valuable bit of truth to them all. But not too much truth, just enough to make the play fun and interesting and never preachy. Ives is a treasure of American theater- if you haven't seen or read any of these plays, you simply don't know what you're missing. | ||
It's All In The Timing This is one of the funniest plays I've ever had the experience of getting to know. I just finished a run of it at my high school last week (I was Mrs. Trotsky), and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard! I highly, HIGHLY reccommend this play to anyone and everyone. | ||