In what may present itself as the most unlikely of successful ideas, THE TYPOGRAPHER’S DREAM, in which a typographer, a geographer and a stenographer trade off details of their respective professions. A work that starts off engaging, but ends up symbolic, this quirky, funny play is short, to the point, and intriguing.

Have these folks become their jobs, or do their jobs simply become them? The unassuming court stenographer listens to and transcribes the intimate details of others’ lives. He rarely uses the first person narrative, and appears to be enabling an alcoholic. The neurotic typographer is in love with the formation of letters. She seems mousy, until she is set off. The bubbly, boisterous geographer is obsessed with cartography and consequences. Laid back and self-important, she has a fatal streak of honesty that can cut her friends deep. Her most poignant victim is her friend the stenographer.

What is marvelous is that skilled wordsmith Bock has made the mundane details of these three lives interesting by the very design of his clever social commentary, otherwise known as THE TYPOGRAPHER’S DREAM. As a playwright, Bock has crafted his product well, having the insight and talent to make the work short and non-repetitive. He ends it just where he should. We known these people, we have had a glance inside, and we leave knowing all we really want or need to.

Funny, indeed, but ultimately deeper and more insightful than superficial glances would imply, THE TYPOGRAPHER’S DREAM made me laugh out loud. These days, that in itself is a precious gift.