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