''English Made Simple'' is a 1994 short play by

David Ives David Ives (born July 11, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is perhaps best known for his comic one-act plays; ''The New York Times'' in 1997 referred to him as the "maestro of the short form". Ives has also written ...

Plot

''English Made Simple'' is the story of a couple named Jack and Jill who meet at a party. As the night progresses, it becomes apparent that the two knew each other, and were even involved romantically, before this night at the party. Meanwhile, a college English professor, whose name is never announced but written as the "Loudspeaker Voice" in the script, explains what the couple is ''really'' thinking as they talk to each other. It is an extremely wordy romantic comedy full of twists and turns. It is one of David Ives's better known plays.

Productions

''English Made Simple'' premiered at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in April 1994, directed by Bill Irwin with Liz McCarthy as Jill and R. Hamilton Wright as Jack, and John Aylward as the Loudspeaker Voice. The play was produced by

Primary Stages Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company. In 2004, Primary Stages moved from its 99-seat home of 17 years at Davenport Theatre, 354 West 45th Street to the 199-seat theater at 59E59 Theat ...

in May 1996, as part of a double bill with Ives' play ''

Ancient History Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

'', directed by

John Rando John Rando is an American stage director who won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for ''Urinetown the Musical'' in 2002. He received his 2nd nomination in the same category in 2015 for the 2014 Broadway revival of '' On the Town''. ...

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', wrote: "The play is preceded by the curtain raiser 'English Made Simple,' an intellectual vaudeville more along the lines of the 'Timing' sketches. In it, the actors Megan Dodds and Kyle Fabel make the same points found in 'Ancient History' more quickly and with much less anguish.""Theater Review;A Simply Charming Couple Headed for a Dead End"
''The New York Times'', May 22, 1996

References

External links

Listing Internet Off-Broadway Database
Plays by David Ives English language 1994 plays Off-Broadway plays {{1990s-play-stub