"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" inquires Bill, a character played by co-director Guy Frenkel '04 in the opening skit of All in the Timing. Betty (Jennifer Goldberg '06) then retorts, triggering the ring of a bell and a repeat of the opening question. Responding with a different answer this time, Betty once again triggers the bell that will repeat numerous times until the entire spectrum of theoretical reactions have been explored. This foray into the innumerable possibilities of an everyday conversation is emblematic of the show as a whole-wild, witty, sometimes nonsensical and yet brilliantly composed. All in the Timing is a series of one act plays originally written by David Ives, and in this case, brought back to life by Frenkel and Tina Snell (GRAD), co-directors of the production. What began as Frenkel's senior thesis ended up as an entertaining and comical collection of plays which were easily worth the price of admission. The show happened to be free, although that should in no way detract from the validity of my previous statement.

Frenkel's inspiration for this project seems to be in his respect for Ives' ability to disregard classical rules that tie down other playwrights and Brandeis students alike. In his director's note, Frankel explains, "[Ives'] world is one in which men continue to live on after their bodies have been mortally wounded, and where others believe themselves to be office appliances. It is a world devoid of 'rational thought' and sadly, one that's existence wavers among many of the students on this campus."
The cast consists of Goldberg, who appears in two of the five skits, Ethan Klepetar '04, Zack Friedman '04, Rachel Boyarsky '06, Gwen Tulin '06, Ben Rathbun, Cristina Miles (GRAD), Zach Reff '06 and Frenkel, who appears in three of the skits.

The opening skit, entitled "Sure Thing," featured Frenkel playing a character seemingly representative of all males and their continuing struggle to initiate conversation and impress the opposite sex in the process. The skit also seemed to focus on the many possible outcomes and parallel possibilities that could result from a slight change in choice of words or a lack of words altogether. Ranging from ludicrous to commonplace, the dialogue made the audience laugh and ponder the subtleties of a love connection.

The second skit was my favorite of the night, focusing mostly on geographical humor to express its overall theme. Entitled "The Philadelphia," the skit explored a Twilight-Zone-like alternative universe in which one could be trapped in a "Philadelphia," a "Los-Angeles" or, God forbid, a "Cleveland." (Al) Klepetar and (Mark) Friedman turned in truly comical performances portraying characters who were stuck in these alternate dimensions. Al is lucky to be in an "L.A.," where he has no care in the world while Mark is stuck in a "Philadelphia," a place where things as fundamental as water and pastrami exist only if they are precisely what you don't want. Boyarsky plays a waitress who turns out to be stuck in a "Cleveland," the worst place of all. The often repeated phrase "everybody's got to be somewhere" makes me believe the skit has an underlying theme that insists one must make the most of what they have. The skit ends with a twist, as Mark and the waitress spark a romance despite the shortcomings of the alternate universes they are stuck inside.

The skit entitled "Variations on the Death of Trotsky" was a satiric exploration of different ways in which Trotsky would realize his own death, "Words, Words, Words" followed and turned out to be a play on the oft-used expression that if you put three monkeys together in a cage long enough, they will produce Shakespeare. In this case, it was Hamlet that these three monkeys, played by Miles, Goldberg and Reff, were expected to produce. The audience was then taken into this world of monkey thought, some of which was surprisingly brilliant for an inferior species. The show wrapped up with a monologue from Frenkel, who was in character as Mitch, a man who thinks himself to be a typewriter. Toward the end of the skit, Mitch spoke directly to an audience member and began to compliment her beauty. As it was part of the show, no response was expected from the audience member who kept appropriately quiet while the one-way dialogue continued. The show ended with the stunning realization that the woman was actually a sheet of paper.

Off-kilter and sometimes strange and confusing, All in the Timing was entertaining nonetheless. The theater had a friendly atmosphere and a light-hearted tone which lead to a noticeable overall enjoyment of the show. As the lights came back on, the audience, consisting mostly of close friends and relatives, cheered and rose to offer a standing ovation.