Playwright Sarah Ruhl's "Dead Man's Cell-Phone" @ ICT Long Beach Funny, Kooky, Yet Smart & Psychologically Wise

Theatre Review:   Patch EVENTS ... Worthy of Consideration & In-Reach

DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE…An Amusing,

Adept & Amazing Adventure --Dabbles into the Afterlife

By: Joseph Sirota, Reviewer (Joe At The Show 4U)

Playwright Sarah Ruhl is about as outstanding a winner

of praise and awards as any upcoming writer in the last decade or two. Having

now won the MacArthur Fellowship, she's officially dubbed a "genius".

Her works are unique/odd & both entertaining and challenging. The ICT

Theatre in Long Beach

with handsome, but intimate layout is a perfect venue to laugh, ponder and be

fascinated by Ruhl's recent odd, but wise play, Dead Man's Cell Phone,

a worthy creative modern venturing into the "afterlife". Ruhl wrote a

past version of Eurydice I

found fascinating too-- using an ancient other worldly visit as a remembrance

of her all too passed-on beloved father. Ruhl shows her versatility, even re: death,

as Dead Man's Cell Phone injects more humor, then illuminates modern

word ethics/brass-rings when one unusual woman's decision to answer an untended

cell-phone seems "goofy", but her morals ultimately change the lives

of every person in the deceased phone owner's life (& even poke some

changes in the tough-ego's  afterlife. This fine production's does the complex play

handily. Excellent Director (Richard Israel) plus an impeccable CAST & a great off stage team turn out a

superb "gem".

This play bubbles with

surprises of storyline, plus psychological/philosophical illuminating offerings, enticing us to take a ride

going from “silly” to “profound” to “brilliant”, to "hey-- we better reexamine

our life's values, morals & choices". It's done so delightfully,

smoothly & smartly, we’re thoroughly busy having fun, only slowly realizing

we’re experiencing a prize theatrical ride. Ruhl opens an “odd” question, at

first seeming like a short comedic sketch. Like Chess, she opens with “What-IF”

queries. If you crossed an unanswered non-stop, loudly ringing cell-phone, would

you pick it up?.. answer it? If the phone's owner is sitting there,-- as dead

as a proverbial doorknob ...then what?” Here, Ruhl’s imaginative views of human

nature take hold. Her key odd heroine,

Jean, is the main human (she's "odd" all right, but she has "sweet

/kind" reasons in her heart & mind. She Needs to answer the phone. Callers(family / friends/ lovers)

await him".

Once Jean answers  that phone, she "feels new Needs to be helpful arise. She can't

just say-Hey, there, your Gordon is dead; I never spoke a word with him, nor

know a thing about him, so Goodbye! No, Jean feels she simply MUST take a

message, that later can be straightened out by friends & families. Oh-oh, she

finds the family & friends are worried with Gordon not answering, so she

“re-edits” all his posthumous communications with what "He Might Have Said",

& that  they'd "Want To Hear".

Egads! soon her nice-warm answers are so soothing & uplifting his callers,

Jean is soon totally affecting the lives of everyone he’d been close to. Hence,

soon Jean finds herself also totally locked into redirecting her own life, with

more calming/uplifting presence to all. Even after Gordon's funeral, they all

bring Jean into their lives for real,

so they can get more of her messages they had always wished for, from the curt,

selfish real Gordon. Ruhl in past plays has shown strong, an odd, warmth path

is oft able to change the lives/feelings of the other characters (& even we,

the audience, too!) Even the "Soul" of all powerful Gordon, visits

Jean as she sweetly, but unabashedly injects unreal, but hitting the spot

messages he never said. As a man who lived by getting what he wanted, Gordon must

admit, her reshaping the family is something. It's even more of interest to

Gordon as he's stuck - in a waiting zone in the afterlife, so if he can learn

to behave more like magic jean, it may save

him from getting nowhere in the "Beyond"  You may be thinking-- All This Is Cute, but Impossible.

Well firstly, Ruhl may be telling us that people are quite malleable to change

if you tell them what they always hoped to hear. Oh, and, didn't someone very

wise once alert us that "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth?" A

MacArthur Award winner (& Poet), certainly hasn't forgotten that. So do

consider this Play.   

The cast of Dead

Man's Cell Phone without exception relate the humorously syncopated

“kooky” storyline to us masterfully. But within this fine ensemble effort,

extra hurrahs are due Alina Phelan as Jean,

bringing to life the pivotal phone-answering “kook” with such warmly likable

believability that we accept, hook-into & root for this borderline absurd, "tuff-Darling.

Trent

Dawson really has to spin a doubly essential odd web as in this clever

production he's winningly chosen as the one-&-same actor to play the

pushy/con-man big-shot deceased brother, Gordon(Dawson) explaining himself in

the otherworld waiting area),. Dawson

then is equally thoroughly believable as Dwight, the odd, quiet, kind sensitive still alive younger brother, who  finds a special connection with Jean’s unique kindness—something

that’s been missing all his life. Turns out he's the Kindred-Spirit made for

Jean...Amen. Each other cast member has a blast & knocks the ball out of

the park portraying the more aggressive, incisive people in Gordon’s Life. As

Gordon’s Mother-- ideal, Eileen T'Kaye is an unforgettable

tour de force, displaying proudly (& hilariously) where her oldest son got

his razor-blade coldness & no-forgiveness. Susan Diol

portrays Gordon’s wife with a truly fine blend of the rigidness mixed with the

underlying vulnerability, missed dreams and pain of an unloved spouse. Very

good surprise end. Ah, Heather Roberts is grandly

hot, tough & funny as 2 self-defined Other-Women of Mystery.

Director (Richard Israel) makes adroit

dynamic and entertaining use of this zig-zagging play & talented cast. He

maintains a perfect balance between the “absurd”, the “profound” and the “just

plain offbeat wild fun” aspects of this multifaceted play. Whether you’re

looking for laughs, for enlightening portraits of unusual life philosophies, or

even for a touch of the metaphysical, you’ll find it.  It's also an extremely handsome, fun

production. Tantalizing sets (D Martyn Bookwalter), top notch

creative use of sound & music (Dave Mickey), striking lighting

design (Jeremy Pivnick) & clever costuming (Kim DeShazo) all combine

to bring the fine ICT Stage) to life as Dead

Man's Cell Phone entertains us

with a special, memorable show. Michael Donovan), merit

a medal for great Casting. Lovers of

theatre that takes chances & smartly “pushes the envelope”... this is a show

you’ve been waiting for. Don't miss it. It's a hoot, & a Ringing Holler.  

---DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE ... is "calling" all theatre lovers to ICT International City

Theatre 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Long Beach CA. Sched: Thurs-thru-Sat @ 8: PM &

Sun Matinees @ 2: PM: Closes June 30. Tickets: $38-45. (Students/ Seniors/

Teachers/ Groups for--Discounts). Call:

(562) 436-4610.   Online: www.ictLongBeach.org