Words, Words, Words by David Ives

Light's on!

Heidi as Kafka

Inès as Milton

Camille as Swift

"Words, Words, Words" is a ten-minute one-act play. It is one of the plays that makes up the "All in the Timing" collection of one-act plays written by David Ives in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. Although each short play stands on its own, they are often performed together.

David Ives

In "Words, Words, Words", written in 1987, David Ives toys with the Infinite Monkey Theorem, which states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

"Words, Words, Words" features three affable chimp characters (Kafka, Milton and Swift) that are able to coherently talk to each other, in much the same way bored office co-workers might socialize. However, they have no idea why a human scientist (Dr. Rosenbaum) has forced them to stay in a room, typing for 10 hours a day until they recreate Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet". In fact, they have no idea what "Hamlet" is. Still, as they speculate on the futility of their careers, they do manage to spout a few famous "Hamlet" quotes without even realizing they are progressing...

> Interview of David Ives (video): click HERE!

> The play text: click HERE!

> Video 1 of the play: click HERE!

> Video 2 of the play: click HERE!

> Video 3 of the play: click HERE!