All in the Timing: Six One-Act Comedies (Paperback)

by David Ives (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 98 pages
• Publisher: Dramatist's Play Service (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822213966
• ISBN-13: 978-0822213963
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #410,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splediferous!!!, February 28, 2002

By	"surgeonmd" (coronado, ca USA) - See all my reviews

Bell Jar! Harvard u?
LOVE this play! i saw it performed by my pals at the Coronado School of the Arts and i LOVED it! Bloody brilliant, it is! we need more of Ives' brand of humor: intelligence and pure wit mixed with absolute INSANITY! I love this man now! My friends and I are all learning Unamunda: The Universal Language. We went to see it twice, and I'm DYING to see it performed again. Meanwhile, I'm buying it written!

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh-Out-Loud One-Acts, March 19, 2006

By	David D - See all my reviews

Many times, words on paper must be read aloud in order for anybody to actually laugh. In my experience, only Douglas Adams and David Ives are exceptions to this rule. At the time of this review, David Ives has added eight more plays to the umbrella title of All in the Timing, but I find that the original six-the six included in this version-will always be the best that Ives has to offer. This is true 20th-Century Comedy, complete with fourth-wall demolitions and Ralph Kramden imitations.

Not wanting to take a horribly long time, I'll just mention that my personal favorites of the six are "Sure Thing" and "The Philadelphia". "Sure Thing" features Bill and Betty making small talk in a cafe, but each time they encounter a faux pas, a Freudian slip, or something just plain wrong ("What's a sort-of girlfriend?" "My mother") an offstage bell rings, and the two are aloud to reset and retry their attempts to true love. Equal parts Bill Murray's film Groundhog Day and the "change-your-last-line" improvisation game. "The Philadelphia" is a state of being where a man can get anything except the things for which he asks (a state which eventually means that you can only get a Philly cheesesteak because it is the one thing for whhich you would never dream of asking). One man seems stuck in a Philadelphia and tries to order a Bud and a burger with the help of his friend who is stuck in a mellow Los Angeles stupor. All six are a treat, but I feel those two are especially hilarious.