editor's note: this is another review from the Asheville Citizen-Times. APAR is not authorized to re-print it, but here it is anyway. You can read the original post at http://www.take5online.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770222078
~Review: Actors craft short gems in ‘All in the Timing’
The cast and crew of North Carolina Stage Company’s “All in the Timing” take the show’s title to heart. This is one of the most deftly directed and best-timed comedies seen in a long time. “All in The Timing” is an unconventional evening of theater. Not just edgy and in your face, this is truly fascinating theater, in concept and structure, exquisitely executed.
Director Ron Bashford has assembled the ensemble of the year: Neela Munoz, Rebecca Morris, Chris Allison and the astonishingly versatile Charlie Flynn McIver. They take on author David Ives’ intriguing work with a vengeance. The show features six short pieces, each totally separate from the others, each riveting in its construct.
The opening piece is called “Sure Thing” and well uses the talents of Chris Allison and Rebecca Morris. It’s a word game with some of the most rapid repartee heard in these parts in a long while.
“Words, Words, Words” is set in a science lab where three chimpanzees work on three typewriters, to prove that given enough time, they will eventually write “Hamlet.” McIver and Munoz dazzle with their inspired mock-monkey movement and facial expressions.
“Universal Language” is a take-off from Esperanto, but with a twist. The old language, English, is called “John Cleese,” named for the “Monty Python” star, to give you a clue of the loony twists. There’s a message here, and each viewer may come out with a different one.
“Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread” is as surrealistic as the other bits, and it helps to know the repetitive musical tones of the 20th century composer mentioned in the title. The vocal tones and the cleverly choreographed movement show the stunning skills of this ensemble cast.
“The Philadelphia” is about as obscure and intellectually challenging as any of this lot. You have to see it to attempt to understand it. The restaurant menu starts off with cream of kidney soup, and goes downhill from there. But Morris and Allison shine, and McIver is awesome. As always.
“Variations on the Death of Trotsky” closes this series of romps. It happens in the suburbs of Mexico City in 1940, on the day Leon Trotsky dies. McIver does Trotsky with Munoz as his wife. The Russian accents are a hoot and the frequent death scenes can be taken many ways. Munoz’ twisted face almost stops the show.
Jim Cavener reviews theater for Take5. E-mail JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.
2 comments:
Far be it for me to disagree with Jim's assertion that NCSC has got another great play on its hands. I did think it was good, but it was certainly not the best thing I've seen there, and I’m trying to figure out why I thought so.
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that David Ives originally wrote All In The Timing as six separate plays, and only put them together in this configuration later on. I think that each play is probably stronger on its own than in the collection. They are simply too similar, in my opinion. They each have a simple story, and the style of humor is more or less the same in each case. The Universal Language is probably the piece that delves deepest into feelings and relationships, but most of them feel rather surface. Which works great for ten minutes at a time, don’t get me wrong. You get a funny set up, a clever play, and a cute punch line, and you're done. And then you get another version of the same thing. And then another. And another.
Ron Bashford, the director, clearly tried to unite the plays, but I think he actually had more success in uniting the actors than the material. The way the actors silently introduced the evening, the way they did all of the scene changing themselves, the way they used white boards to physically unify each play... all these things, along with the technical elements, helped create a sense of unity among the cast, and to keep the audience looking forward, and indeed to a certain extent helped in uniting the evening. But ultimately the plays themselves are just mild variations on David Ives's comic sensibilities.
I also thought that there may have been a missing sense of urgency to the plays, at least on the quiet Friday night I saw them. Though partly the fault of the playwright, I think, more urgency from the cast also could have helped. Take Sure Thing (which, in full disclosure, is the only one of these plays I have been in myself): the conceit of a bell that rings to restart a conversation is great; very theatrical, very funny. But I was not sure what purpose the bell served in this production. It seemed to me that the bell simply restarted the conversation, no questions asked. But if instead the bell is an incredible opportunity, a chance none of us ever actually gets, to take back something we said (or the other person said) and to get a second chance to make a first impression, then each bell ring must be a really big deal. Who knows if this might be the last time you get to hear it? Each time you get to start over, then, is precious and full of movement and forward energy. Maybe it’s just a personal preference, but I think that sense of drive was not quite there in that play, or in the evening over all.
I do want to take a minute, though, to point out Rebecca Morris, who did a wonderful job holding her own in her first fully professional show. She could have been swallowed up by the personalities and talent of the great actors on stage with her, but instead they all felt unified and present in an exciting way.
I agree with you Willie. While I enjoyed the show, and thought it had consistently strong performances all around, I don't think it was nearly as impressive as some of NCSC's other comedies such as Stones in His Pockets or Hedwig. Maybe it's because I've seen many of the plays in All In The Timing performed before by several groups ranging from high school students to seasoned professionals, and in every case I think they're always funny. I'm not sure if they're challenging enough. In my opinion a group of single cell protozoa could do these plays and they would still be funny. I think David Ives has crafted the plays so well that it hardly takes any acting, just a good sense of...timing. I saw this show my first semester at UNCA and honestly I thought that production was just as well done as NCSC's production. Granted NCSC is not choosing it's plays based on my tastes, but I miss the NCSC shows like Hedwig, R+J, Stones In His Pockets, etc, that took risks; the ones that not just any theater company could do.
The two plays of the night that really stood out for me were; Words, Words, Words, and Variations On The Death of Trotsky. In the former I enjoyed the various ape-like characterizations of all three actors, but especially of Neela Munoz. Her choices were very captivating, bold, and funny. In the latter play I really enjoyed the classic Monty Python-esqe absurdity of it all. The characters were larger than life, and all the choices were big and bold. In moth plays the actors seemed comfortable making themselves look silly. Foe me one of the funniest parts of the night was during Trotsky when Charlie’s mustache fell off in the middle of a scene, and he just said "Capitalist moustaches", or something like that, and proceeded with the rest of the scene. Then later when Chris came out as the gardener, he stepped on the moustache, and it ended up stuck to the sole of his shoe. I was hoping Charlie would see it, rip it off, and try to put it back on. That would have bee hysterical, but it didn't happen.
All in all I thought it as a very good production with a great cast, but I thought it was very insubstantial. Although I enjoyed it, aside from the things I mentioned above, most of the play vanished from my thoughts a few minutes after leaving the theater.
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