Three monkeys pounding on typewriters, in the hope they’ll eventually produce “Hamlet.” Leon Trotsky going about his day with an assassin’s ax in his head. A universal, nonsensical but familiar language — “Velcro! Harvardyu?” — called Unamunda. These are just three of the wickedly funny delights of “All in the Timing,” David Ives’ 1993 evening of one-act comedies.
Newly revived, expertly directed (by John Rando) and acted by first-rate farceurs — Jenn Harris of “Silence! The Musical” and Carson Elrod (“Peter and the Starcatcher”) among them — they showcase the playwright’s masterful facility with language, later exploited to more serious ends in such works as “Venus in Fur.”
The opening sketch, “Sure Thing,” sets the tone. A man (Elrod) and woman (Liv Rooth) meet at a cafe and strike up a conversation. Every time one of them says the wrong thing, a bell rings, letting them start anew. If only all first dates had such a safety device.
It’s certainly better than being in “The Philadelphia,” the existential condition in which everything goes wrong. Such is the plight of Mark (Elrod), who can’t even get a waitress (Harris) to give him what he’s ordered until a friend (Matthew Saldivar) tells him to ask for exactly the opposite.
Those typewriting monkeys? They’re named Swift, Kafka and Milton, and they’re none too happy about their plight.“We’re getting peanuts here,” one complains, while another bitterly points out, “Sort of publish or perish, with a twist.”
In “The Universal Language,” a young woman (Harris) with a stutter signs up for Unamunda, whose eager professor (Elrod) teaches her an alternative to “johncleese,” a k a English.
As amusing as the pieces are — only one sketch, the metronomic “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread,” seems dated — they’re all invested with genuine poignancy. Beowulf Boritt’s ingenious set design — the walls and doors at askew angles, and a half-dozen clocks of varying styles — adds to the atmosphere of comic disorientation.
The timing couldn’t be better for this 20th-anniversary revival presented by Primary Stages, where it was first produced. The two-decade interval gives a new generation of theatergoers the chance to experience it for the first time. Those who’ve seen it before will probably have forgotten just enough to laugh again.