THEATRE

    Dead Man's Cell Phone

    Dead Man's Cell Phone

    Presented by The Circuit Playhouse at The Circuit Playhouse

    July 31-August 23, 2009

    Add Review/Comment | Read Reviews/Comments

    An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet cafe. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man with a lot of loose ends. This wildly imaginative new comedy by MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Sarah Ruhl, is about how we memorialize the dead and how that remembering changes us. It is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. "Ruhl's zany probe of the razor-thin line between life and death delivers a fresh and humorous look at the times we live in." Variety

    ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers Glenda Mace (Review of Dead Man's Cell Phone):

    After seeing Sarah Ruhl’s play, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” you may never think of your cell phone in the same way again. We all have one, right? We have all been annoyed by that ring, ours or someone else’s, right? Picture this. You are seated in a coffee shop, finishing your lunch, lingering a bit over your soup which is now cold, making notes for a meeting and a cell phone is ringing. The crowd has dwindled and it is pretty obvious where the ring is coming from. That guy a couple of tables away just sits there. And it keeps ringing and ringing and the guy is not answering it so you ask him if he would please answer it and he is not answering you either. So you go over. The phone keeps ringing. On closer inspection you realize that the man oddly slumped in his chair may never answer it again. Would you pick it up, say hello? Alas. Jean answers Gordon’s cell phone and thus begins a multi-character scavenger hunt for love and personal connection. Mousy, unassuming Jean, played with such wit and understanding by Pamela Poletti, is an unlikely adventuress. We understand that she doesn’t quite know why she answers that first call and replies, “No he’s not. Can I take a message?” And although we aren’t sure why she continues to answer his cell phone, long after it is clear that he has a family; a mother, a wife, a mistress, a brother, and that she is a total stranger, it has becomes very clear to Jean. She is growing ever closer to the man she knows only through those calls. At one point she confides, “I only knew him for a short time, but I think that I loved him, in a way.” Not only does she love him but she wants his family to love him and begins fabricating tales that give each of them what, in life, they always wanted to hear from Gordon and never did.
    This delightful production exemplifies Sarah Ruhl’s reputation for nonlinear story lines depicting realism sprinkled with quirky surprises, mystery and humor. Even the set follows that nonlinear form as it evolves from scene to scene in a film noir atmosphere as the characters seamlessly move the tables as well as the action.
    Director, Sean Paul Bryan has woven these many separate strands into whole cloth and has chosen a fine cast to lead us wittily through this miasma from death to life and many of the stops in between. Alan Busby plays the dead man, Gordon (oh, yes we hear from him too). Pamela Poletti is Jean. Jeanna Juleson plays Gordon’s mother, Mrs. Gottlieb. Jennifer Henry plays Hermia, his wife. Stephanie Olson plays Gordon’s mistress and Jason Hansen is Gordon’s brother Dwight.
     

     


    • At-a-
      Glance

      • Venue Info

        The Circuit Playhouse

        51 S Cooper
        Memphis, TN 38104

        Full map and directions

      • Admission Info

        Tickets: $15-$30

        Info Phone: 901-726-4656

      • Dates & Times

        Dates:
        July 31-August 23, 2009

        Times:
        Thursday-Saturday at 8:00, Sunday at 2:00

      • Accessibility Info

          Currently, no accessibility information is available for this event.

      • Member Reviews

        Add review/comment

        • Event Name: Dead Man's Cell Phone
          "You may never think of your cell phone in the same way again"
          Comment posted by: Glenda Mace - ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers from Memphis, TN, Aug 23, 2009

          This delightful production exemplifies Sarah Ruhl's reputation for nonlinear story lines depicting realism sprinkled with quirky surprises, mystery and humor. For full review, see event detail.

    • Member
      Reviews

      • Member Reviews

        Add review/comment

        • Event Name: Dead Man's Cell Phone
          "You may never think of your cell phone in the same way again"
          Comment posted by: Glenda Mace - ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers from Memphis, TN, Aug 23, 2009

          This delightful production exemplifies Sarah Ruhl's reputation for nonlinear story lines depicting realism sprinkled with quirky surprises, mystery and humor. For full review, see event detail.

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