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All in the Timing, Six One-Act Plays

Collection / Anthology, Comedy  /  2w, 2m

David Ives’ beloved collection of comedies combines wit, intellect, satire and just plain fun. A hilarious sextet whether played together or separately, the work as a whole encompasses falling in love to existential crises – and everything in between.

All in the Timing, Six One-Act Plays

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Experimental, Romantic Comedy
  • Suggested Use
    • Competition or Audition Material
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
All in the Timing, Six One-Act Plays

Details

Summary

All in the Timing comprises six hilarious one-act plays:

Sure Thing, where two people meet in a café and find their way through a conversational minefield but still fall in love.

Words, Words, Words which recalls the philosophical adage that three monkeys typing into infinity will sooner or later produce Hamlet.

The Universal Language, which brings together Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator and teacher of Unamunda, a wild comic language.

Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread, a parodic musical vignette in trademark Glassian style, that captures an existential moment of crisis for the composer.

The Philadelphia where a young man in a restaurant has fallen into a Twilight Zone-like state.

Variations on the Death of Trotsky, which presents the Russian revolutionary on the day of his demise, trying to cope with the mountain-climber’s axe he’s discovered in his head.

History

All in the Timing premiered off-Broadway at Primary Stages in 1993.

Sure Thing

BILL – Attractive, late 20s
BETTY – Attractive, late 20s

Words, Words, Words

MILTON – Monkey
SWIFT – Monkey
KAFKA – A girl-monkey

The Universal Language

DAWN – Late 20s, plainly dressed, very shy, with a stutter
DON – About 30, charming and smooth, with glasses
YOUNG MAN

Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread

WOMAN 1
WOMAN 2
PHILIP GLASS
BAKER

The Philadelphia

AL – California-cool, in a summer suit, 20s or 30s
MARK – Frazzled, in a business suit, 20s or 30s
WAITRESS – Weary, youngish

Variations on the Death of Trotsky

TROTSKY
MRS. TROTSKY
RAMÓN

  • Time Period Present Day, 1940s/WWII
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Duration 90 minutes

Media

“Like sketches for some hilarious, celestially conceived revue.” – The New York Times

“Theatre that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart. Ives is a mordant comic who has put the ‘play’ back in playwright… A wondrous wordmaster.” – Time Magazine

“An original turn of mind is to be saluted in our tired theatre… A playwright with ideas, his own ideas, in his head is relatively rare. Such a one is David Ives.” – New York Magazine

“The writing is not only very funny, it has density of thought and precision of poetry… All in the Timing is by a master of fun. David Ives spins hilarity out of words.” – The New York Times

Videos

  • New York Society Library – An Evening With David Ives youtube thumbnail

    New York Society Library – An Evening With David Ives

  • Kennedy Center Theatre Conversations – David Ives youtube thumbnail

    Kennedy Center Theatre Conversations – David Ives

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £85 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

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Authors

David Ives

David Ives has been active in the American theatre for 50 years. His shows include All In The Timing, Time Flies, Venus In Fur, New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza, and four verse adaptations of French comedies, as well as radio plays that are available onli ...
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