Sure Thing by David Ives

I thought this was a very strange one act play.  Maybe reading it doesn't do it justice, but I really did not enjoy reading this.  The repetition was strange.  When it was acted out in class I thought it was pretty good.  I guess it's one of those plays that needs to be acted out instead of read.

The main idea behind this one act play is that it explains the actions between two people meeting for the first time in a cafe.  There is a bell that goes off whenever the conversation has become stale, or has wandered to something too personal or abstract.  So in a sense the bell acts as a "redo" button.  (If only we had one in real life)

The guy, Bill, in the play approaches the female, Betty, in a cafe.  He asks her if the seat beside her is taken and she says it is.  The bell rings.  He continues his quest, but in a different manner.  The bell rings a few more times.  Eventually he says the right things and sits down.  This shows how hard it is to initially begin a conversation with someone completely new.  It also shows how hesitant Betty is, she keeps coming up with excuses.

After he sits down they make small talk and the bell goes off occasionally.  I thought it was funny when she tells him that she just came to read.  I mean how would you respond to that?  All you can really do is just stop talking to her and leave her alone.  Of corse the bell went off after that.  I thought it was also funny when she is talking about the book she is reading and Bill says the the author of the novel in such a confident manner, but is wrong.

One important message of the play is about timing.  Bill explains that "You have to hit these things at the right moment or it's no good."  I think that is mainly referring to relationships and meeting people, but also to other times in life.

There is a strange moment when Betty completely loses it and goes off about how she knows what Bill really wants and that she isn't falling for it.  Betty has a long monologue where she describes what seems to be a true story she was involved in.  She apparently met a guy and he got her to come home with him. All he really wanted was to have sex with her and after they finished he pretty much didn't care for her.  This is the sort of personal information that is too personal for a first meeting and the bell rings after she finishes tell her story.

A few more funny moments are when Betty says she is gay so Bill will lose interest in her.  Also when Bill is describing his college and political affiliation.  He has to change his political affiliation four times till he finally comes to one that suits Betty.

The play ends with a story book ending.  They finally find topics that they completely agree on and everything seems like it's going to work out between them.  I thought the was a little off.  If the play is about the struggles of meeting someone then it doesn't really make sense for everything to be peachy at the end.  Most people don't hit it off when they first meet.  I thought the ending was a little hard to believe.