All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays

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.

My current favorite playwright primarily because of his humor. It's outlandish, but not so you don't understand the underlying meaning to the plays as a whole. "Sure Thing" is one that I expect I will perform in soon. I held off directing it because I wanted to be in it so badly. I did, however, direct "Seven Menus" and it was a lot of fun. His plays are great for college productions, as well as, community plays. Anyone would have fun reading them! Not much of monologues...lots of fast paced, back-n-forth dialogue.

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!

I bought All in the Timing after being a part of a production of "Words, words, words", "Variations on the Death of Trotsky", "The Philadelphia" and "Sure Thing". After enjoying immensly the 12 times I saw these performed, I found out that there were more! I immediately bought the complete collection and have been laughing my head off ever since. I read them over and over and loan the book to all my friends who appreciate comedy. If you need a good laugh, read "All in the Timing."

This collection of plays has opened my mind to different ways of writing and reading. As a high-schooler, I was looking for a one-act play to direct, and I was certainly given a wonderful choice by Ives. He is especially innovative, considering that he manages to connect music to his writing : "Foreplay, or the Art of the Fugue" was written in the style of a fugue, and "Variations on the Death of Trotsky" is written similarly to variations on a theme of music. "Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread" has incredible rhythmic qualities, and overall, I think that "All in the Timing" is a first-rate set of plays, worth anybody's time.