Time Flies and Other Short Plays

by David Ives

Playwright David Ives's follow-up collection to the award-winning collection All in the Timing pushes his gift for wacky one-act comedy to new two mayflies on a date realize they have only twenty-four hours to live; a washing-machine repairman falls in love with a perfect washer (should he tell his girlfriend?); an out-of-work shmo decides to spend his day being painter Edgar Degas; two Babylonian blue-collar workers have to build the Tower of Babel -- or else. Zany, thought-provoking, and always original, this anthology brings together all the one-acts from the Off-Broadway hit Mere Mortals and from the all-new Lives of the Saints, as well as several new and uncollected plays, including Bolero, Arabian Nights (which premiered at the celebrated Humana Festival in Louisville), The Green Hill, and Captive Audience.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Classics, Comedy, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2001

About the author

A contemporary American playwright whose plays often consist of one act and are generally comedies. They are notable for their verbal dexterity, theatrical invention, and quirky humor.

He earned his MFA in Playwriting from The Yale School of Drama. A Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, David is probably best known for his evening of one-act comedies called "All In the Timing". The show won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award, ran for two years Off-Broadway, and in the 1995-96 season was the most-performed play in the country after Shakespeare productions.

Reviews

[MacK · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Ives’ collection, Time Flies, has the same verve that All in the Timing has, but lacks the same inventive punch. Many of the new collection match the highlights of the first (particularly Degas C’est Moi, Captive Audience and Arabian Nights) the same pithy repartee, the same joke per second ratio, and makes someone involved in theater (even a small high school theater in the Himalayas) begin to imagine all manner of possibilities. But others lack the same punch, perhaps because they punch too hard, contain a great deal of absurd sexuality (Mystery at Twikinham Vicarage) or profanity (Babel’s in Arms). The same things I loved from Ives’ first collection are in abundance here, but the missteps are steeper and the spread from “Love it!” to “leave it” more palpable.

[Farya · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Extract the eternal from the ephemeral.”

Charles Baudelaire

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really blown away by two of the plays in this compilation... Bolero, a short drama based the classical song of the same name, and Degas, C'Est Moi, which I didn't really appreciate until the end, when I had to stop reading and re-read the section a few more times. I could completely relate to the main character.

[Marziye Foroughi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time flies deals with the shortness of time and how you should celebrate every day you live, and live each day to its fullest.
Don't always look at all of the negative things in life, because there will be many. Look at the positives, and spend time with those that you love and that are important to you. And make sure you don't waste time, no regrets.

[Sadan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very light-hearted and humorous play about the fleetingness of life. Although the play draws upon the not-so-original notion that the lifespan of human beings (here represented as mayflies) is short, the creative usage of puns and wordplays make it much more intriguing.

Similar to humans, the mayflies show apathy to their short lifespan in the beginning. They continue to feed, meet, and mate and attempt to find meaning in their absolutely absurd life. Even though they don't know the meaning of Carpe Diem, the commit to it (at least as much as a mayfly can).

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review from 8/26/19
I read & reread some of plays in this volume I hadn’t gotten around to before, or didn't remember. “The Green Hill” is about a world traveler obsessively looking for a specific hill he found on a travel poster all over the world. “Dr. Fritz, Or: The Forces of Light” is about a souvenir sales woman who is also a doctor who died in 1916. Bought at the Lenox bookshop $14.00 8/25/19.

I love these short little literate, funny, punny plays. “Time Flies” is about two mayflies. In “Degas, C’est Moi” Ed wakes up to deciding to be Degas. First line: “A stroke of genius: I decide to be Degas for a day. Edgar Degas. Why Degas? says a pesky little voice at the back of my head. Well why not Degas? Pourquoi pas Degas? Maybe the prismatic bars of color on my ceiling have inspired me.”

“Babel’s In Arms” has two workers establishing Babel, with sight jokes, jokes on religions that haven’t been established. “Arabian Nights” has a shopkeeper, customer and a poor/ funny translator.

[Maleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whereas I did enjoy several of these plays, I can't give the book overall a higher review. I'm thinking that David Ives is not my style. He is quite clever and several of his plays are very humorous, but he adds unnecessary sexual content and profanity. I think my favorites from this collection were Soap Opera and Arabian Nights.

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a Banana - an it's Appealing

An offbeat collection of 12 mostly comic short scenes suitable for a workshop or school productions, though in a few cases I suspect the language could present a problem in a high school setting. The titular and extremely witty piece profiling the tiny window for dating and establishing a meaningful relationship for two short lived 24 hour mayflies Horace and May is worth the price of admission. Similarly quipped, is “Babel's in Arms” where two inventive stone workers tasked with the construction of the Tower of Babel come up with a unique solution to appease their management overseers. Speed the Play is a spot on spoof of plays by David Mamet, and could easily be inserted either after intermission or as an encore Easter egg following a production of any of his plays. And “The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage” is a fun little spoof of English drawing room mysteries. I also enjoyed “The Enigma Variations”, a short “Sliding Doors” piece where two parallel Bills and Bebes act out the same scene multiple times, though the Rod Sterling stand-in of Fifi

Lesser pieces include “Lives of the Saints” is about two accented European women preparing food for a funeral gathering where the gimmick is the actors mime their actions and the sound effects technicians are visible to the audience – the story is not that interesting and technically it's not much of a stretch as sound has to do the same work anyway. “The Green Hill” is a tale about a man's quest to experience the locale of a particular photograph, and though the character travels the world it doesn't really go anywhere. “Captive Audience” puts Rob and Laura Petrie through the Twilolight Zone, but unless you recall the The Dick Van Dyke Show the idea flops. Similarly "Bolero" is about a couple in bed who possibly overhear a struggle in the apartment next door but are reluctant to act. On the page it's a truncated morality play, on stage – it's not Rear Window but it might be OK though I found the male lead unnecessarily creepy, which was probably Ives' intent.

Better was “Soap Opera”, an amusing love triangle about a Maytag repair man in love with his dominant washing machine. “Arabian Nights” has a nice “lost in translation” setup of an American wandering into a middle eastern shop with his Interpreter and having a conversation with the young proprietress. Both of the main characters speak perfect English, but the Interpreter translates anyway - with good timing and delivery this could be quite good. I was less enamoured with the two hander “Dr Fritz or the Forces of Light” - it was a bit frenetic and the situation where Tom might be dying and his only recourse is a Spanish peasant girl who channels the spirit of a stereotypical German Mad Doctor. Finally “Degas, C'est Moi” is a charming conceit of what it might be like to spend one's day pretending to be the famous artist.

Not quite as good as his All in the Timing, but enjoyable nonetheless.

[Mattschratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good ideas--a rate of a little less than one good idea per play, which is pretty good. Ives runs the risk of goofiness and falls into it sometimes, which is what happens when you're clever. But exploring cleverness is maybe underrated. (Unexamined cleverness is NOT overrated and is all over the place).

[eikaia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forse sono abituata a testi teatrali più profondi e significativi, a sketch con una morale o semplicemente con un messaggio da dare alla gente. qui, per quanto mi sprema, non trovo NULLA. personaggi piatti, trame surreali, conclusioni sconclusionato, boh??? probabilmente renderebbe più dal vivo con veri attori? ma so che rimarrei comunque confusa da ognuno di questi spettacoli.

[Tim Mountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’ve read this collection around 15 times by now; some of the plays in it i’ve read over 100 times. ives is one of the most brilliant, clever, and romantic writers i’ve ever read. he’s one of my greatest inspirations as a writer. i can’t wait to read this again and again for the rest of my life.

[Ophelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as the comedic plays, I understand why Ives' type of humor appeals to some people, but I personally feel it is a bit too heavy-handed. I think the themes are valuable, but this particular style of comedy distracts from them.

[Beth Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of these I really enjoyed, but most of them were not my cup of tea.

[Gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

🤙

[Melika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read Timeflies, it was a class assignment, but yet I find it enjoyable and funny.

[Gabriel Maiorino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, plays started off really strong and engaging but as it continued seemed to get more lost without much intention behind the plays

[Thalia Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sure thing - 2 ⭐️
Variations on the death of Trotsky - 1 ⭐️
Time flies - 3 ⭐️
Doctor Fritz/The forces of light - 2 ⭐️
English made simple - 1 ⭐️
Degas? C’est moi - 3 ⭐️

[shinji · Rating 4 out of 5]

time flies is definitely the best, love u david 💋

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Time Flies
By David Ives

Another cutting is for Soap Opera
By David Ives

Yet another cutting is for Babel’s In Arms
By David Ives

Still another cutting is for Mystery of Twicknam Vicarage
By David Ives

Geez, another cutting is for Degas, C’est Moi
By David Ives

[Nagisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was wonderful, it shows the creative place that is the mind of David Ives. I particularly enjoyed the short play entitled 'Arabian Nights', the tag line 'Seriously, lost in translation' comes to mind. It shows the reality of how people don't really hear the right things if it doesn't come directly from the source.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read Time Flies, not any of the other plays. I found this play to be ridiculous but very enjoyable, and I am aware of the real world tie-ins. Cool, creative, and entertaining. I think that everyone would get a kick out of this.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as All in the Timing, but still fun.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. Love. David. Ives.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

love these plays

[Maria Longley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this after seeing a couple of these performed. Arabian Nights was particularly good.

[Anna]

Clever, but I guess I'm not in the mood for this level of absurdity.