All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays
by David Ives
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 285)
Read in January, 2008
recommended to MacK by:
Elizabeth
I am well versed in the works of David Ives. I spent the better part of my high school weekends in Montana classrooms watching his short scenes enacted by a hundred or so peers and did more than a few myself. His first collection, All in the Timing, is a marvelously compendium of wit and wisdom that not even the worst, most tumultuously pubescent teenage reader can ruin. Sure Thing, The Philadelphia, and Mere Mortals are the brightest stars in this collection, but oth...more
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This book came up in conversation, totally independently from my reading of Word Freak, as a response to some passages from Tom Stoppard plays on language ... I think we originally got on the topic from the subject of ambiguity (and there from a discussion of the illustrated Strunk & White) which let to "Hamlet... in love... with the old man's daughter... the old man... thinks."...more
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recommends it for:
everyone
All the plays thematically toy with various ideas and implications of time. The quality of the writing ranges from near-genius to totally gimmicky. I'm fairly certain this guy is the one responsible for the movie Groundhog Day. There are some very imaginative games he plays in here, and there is innovative staging to represent various (often cerebrally engaging, but sometimes rather heartbreaking) models of time. It's very accessible work, however...which is why the plays are increasingly gettin...more
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A collection of very short and very inventive plays. The laguage is crisp and playful. They're a bit short on plot at times, but that's often the point. These plays are simple to produce in that they require little technically (many can be done with one or two props) but are very hard to pull off due to the language. It really is all in the timing. Worth the read if only for "Sure Thing" which is now heavily anthologized.
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recommends it for:
actors! thespians!
tgiinternet. i've been trying to find the name of this witty and fun one-act i was in. i thought it was called nice try, and i knew it involved a bell. and i somehow found it, even though it's not called nice try but sure thing. google didn't care that i don't remember these facts, google connected me to it's proper author, david ives, and now i want to read this book.
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Read in June, 2003
In a collection of fourteen plays, not all of them can be gems, but Ives is always far too clever for his own good, and it usually works for him.
Soon-to-be or should-be classics include: "Sure Thing," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "English Made Simple," "The Universal Language," and "Variations on the Death of Trotsky."
Soon-to-be or should-be classics include: "Sure Thing," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "English Made Simple," "The Universal Language," and "Variations on the Death of Trotsky."
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Variations on the theme of inventive, clever, perceptive, and witty awesomeness. Some plays are fun, some are absurd, a few are deeply moving, and one (Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread) was the strangest thing I had ever seen in print. Talk about deconstruction!
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Read in April, 2008
A couple of plays in here I couldn't find myself caring about, but the rest are just fantastic, and gimmicky in just the right amount. "Sure Thing", "Words, Words, Words", "The Philadelphia", "The Universal Language" are probably my favorites.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
my favorite people
my new favorite playwright. I'd seen 'sure thing' performed before but as perfect as that is, it only gently rubs the deceptively shiny and surprisingly fleshy surface of Ives' genius. love.
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Sure these short plays are produced over and over by high school debate students. But that still doesn't stop them from being hysterical. "Sure Thing" is probably the best of the bunch.
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This sounds good...I've long taught one of his very short plays in class ("Sure Thing.") Students love it. I wouldn't mind reading more of his work...thanks for the review, W.
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Read in April, 1998
There's a play in here about a man suffering with Alzheimer's that made me understand why my grandfather suffered so horribly. It was a powerful read at the time.
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Read in January, 1999
My friend Mike did was in some of these skits in high school, and they were hysterical. It is the only book of plays that I can actually read through and enjoy.
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Read in September, 2003
This is the only playbook that I was required to read from college that I still read on occasion. I think that should be a sufficient testament to its quality.
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Read in September, 1995
I haven't actually read all of them. I've read 4 in the course of a production for which I was the assistant stage manager. Very funny stuff.
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Read in January, 1999
recommends it for:
fans of American drama
Very good collection of short plays: absurd, hilarious, challenging, dark, critical and funny. A must-read for theater/drama fans!
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Read in January, 2000
I highly recommend taking the ten minutes it will take to read the two plays Sure Thing and The Universal Language.
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recommends it for:
Theater/Play fans
David Ives is a fantastic playwright - these one acts are fantastic. My favorite is "Ancient History". Great one acts!
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I love reading plays and David Ives is a favorite...Meaningless, funny, very odd-ball, and entertaining...14 short plays
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College friends put some of these plays on- my favorite was Sure Thing. I think i have made every boyfriend read it.
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