LAKEPORT – Last Saturday night's Clear Lake High School performance of David Ives' "All In The Timing” played to a large crowd of amazed theater-goers.

Why were they amazed? Because, with only a month and a half of preparation, and a set consisting of a few black curtains and flats, a card table and some folding chairs, the all-student ensemble managed to pull off a thoroughly charming evening of entertainment.

The "play" was actually four short plays, each completely separate from the other. The unifying theme between all of them was comedy and language.

Ives' off-beat humor explored the challenges of what we say, how we say it, when we say it and ... what is the result of all that.

His tools for this exploration were such weird characters as a woman with a speech problem (Alley Hauptman), a fake professor (Oliver Leighton), young people in bad diners (Eathan Keiffer, Lolly Brown, Michael Kruszewski and Joni Hansen) and three monkeys (Zenze Manley, Jennea Combs and Oliver again). Talk about eclectic!

The energy of each performance was catching! Although the dialogue was fast and sometimes a bit quiet, there was never any doubt about what was happening on the stage. Even when Leighton spoke knowingly in a made-up language, we knew what he was saying to his unsuspecting victim, played with tender naivete and sincerity by Hauptman.

When two people sit at a table for an entire skit, this should be boring, right? Keiffer managed to do this twice in two skits without a boring minute in either one of them. His partner in the first skit, Lolly Brown, joined him in a string of bell-divided "do you come here often" conversations that can best be described as "mind-boggling, laugh-filled, perfectly timed snappy patter.”

And, when Kieffer showed up again in "Philadelphia" (Keiffer's name for the place where you can never get what you want), Kruszewski and Hansen were there to challenge the his premise and then hysterically send him to Philadelphia, himself.

And in the middle of these intellectual challenges were, what else? Monkeys! Yes, three monkeys, trying to write “Hamlet” together.

From the moment Manley stuffed a whole banana in her mouth and ran up and then down a teeter-totter, I was hooked. Coombs pranced across the stage with attitude in a fetching tutu while Leighton slipped effortlessly into his "to be or not to be" phase, and I knew for sure that Shakespeare would never be the same. What a hoot!

This production was the creation of directors John Tomlinson and Jenna Radke, two grownups who have no problem thinking with the creativity of children while "cracking the whip" on the talent. The results were very insightful and adult performances delivered with zip, zest, laughs and pure enjoyment to a very appreciative audience. Congratulations, guys! You were all stars!

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