David Ives – författare

The world according to David Ives is a very add place, and his plays constitute a virtual stress test of the English language -- and of the audience''s capacity for disorientation and delight. Ives''s characters plunge into black holes called "Philadelphias," where the simplest desires are hilariously thwarted. Chimps named Milton, Swift, and Kafka are locked in a room and made to re-create Hamlet. And a con man peddles courses in a dubious language in which "hello" translates as "velcro" and "fraud" comes out as "freud."At once enchanting and perplexing, incisively intelligent and side-splittingly funny, this original paperback edition of Ives''s plays includes "Sure Thing," "Words, Words, Words," "The Universal Language," "Variations on the Death of Trotsky," "The Philadelphia," "Long Ago and Far Away," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "Seven Menus," "Mere Mortals," "English Made Simple," "A Singular Kinda Guy," "Speed-the-Play," "Ancient History," and "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread."From the Trade Paperback edition.

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 heights: 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.

A young playwright, Thomas, has written an adaptation of the 1870 novel Venus in Fur by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (after whom the term “masochism” was coined); the novel is the story of an obsessive adulterous relationship between a man and the mistress to whom he becomes enslaved. At the end of a long day in which the actresses Thomas auditions fail to impress him, in walks Vanda, very late and seemingly clueless, but she convinces him to give her a chance. As they perform scenes from Thomas’s play, and Vanda the actor and Vanda the character gradually take control of the audition, the lines between writer, actor, director, and character begin to blur. Vanda is acting . . . or perhaps she sees in Thomas a masochist, one who desires fantasy in “real life” while writing fantasies for a living. An exploration of gender roles and sexuality, in which desire twists and turns in on itself, Venus in Fur is also a witty, unsettling look at the art of acting—onstage and off.

As a young Jewish man in 17th century Amsterdam, Baruch de Spinoza excelled as a theological student; but as he encountered free-thinking Protestants, atheists, and radicals in this relatively tolerant city, he began to question his religion and the nature of God. As a result, he was branded a heretic and faced excommunication.Includes an interview with Steven Nadler, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age.Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in July 2011.Director: Rosalind AyresProducing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergAn L.A. Theatre Works Full-Cast Performance Featuring:Edward Asner as Abraham van ValkenburghRichard Easton as Saul Levi MorteraAndrea Gabriel as ClaraArye Gross as Ben IsraelAmy Pietz as RebekahJames Wagner as Simon de VriesMatthew Wolf as Baruch de SpinozaAssociate Producer: Christina MontanoRecording Engineer/Sound Designer/Editor: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West HollywoodSound Effects Artist: Tony Palermo

A series of short comedic works from playwright David Ives, with subjects ranging from the Lindbergh baby to chimps typing literary classics. The title work is a more serious, nostalgic look at two generations of apartment dwellers who meet in a time warp. Runtime: 1:28

A series of short comic vignettes from playwright David Ives, narrated by Evan Gore. In the title work, two houseflies try to make the most out of their brief time on earth. Runtime: 1:18

Enigmatic actress Vanda Jordan appears unannounced for an audition with director Thomas Novachek. She’s determined to land the leading role in his new production – despite seeming wrong for the part. The director is weary of auditioning a string of other actors, but agrees to see her, and is drawn quickly in to her act. As Novachek reads the lines of the male character in his play - Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the Austrian author who gave his name to masochism - it becomes a play within a play. The audience is caught between what is 'real' and what is 'acted'.Venus in Fur is an intoxicating dark comedy of desire, fantasy and the innate love of fur. An exploration of gender roles and sexuality, in which desire twists and turns in on itself, Venus in Fur is also a witty, unsettling look at the art of acting—onstage and off.Venus in Fur has been produced all over America and all over the world, and was turned into a film by Roman Polanski that premiered in Cgender annes in 2013.

It's a perfect day for brunch.Leo and Marianne Brink have found the ideal spot to take their friends. With great reviews, impeccable service and an extensive menu, it seems like nothing could go wrong.But as their meal is interrupted by a series of increasingly strange events, they come to realise they've bitten off more than they can chew. Here We Are is the last work by Stephen Sondheim, written shortly before his death in 2021, with a book by playwright David Ives and inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel.It was first performed in 2023 at The Shed in New York City, directed by Joe Mantello, and received its UK premiere at London's National Theatre in 2025. This first publication of the complete book and lyrics of Here We Are is accompanied by a substantial and revelatory essay by David Ives on 'Writing with Sondheim'.'Sondheim not only dared to change musical theatre, but succeeded, forever' Guardian