Dead Man's Cell Phone

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:31pm

So I went to see this play at Playwright's Horizons. Anyone else see it? I don't really understand the message of the show. Any thoughts?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:37pm

How about doing a search and posting in one of the countless threads discussing this show?

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:38pm

I did not see this production, but I saw the premier production in DC.

Anyway, I think it has to do with forging new relationships (not always based on truth) based on solely the connections afforded by new technology. Plus, due to said technology, pieces of us, and connections to others, left behind even after we are gone.

Something like that.

But did you like the show?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:50pm

Foster, how about not being a skeez at every opportunity?

I enjoyed the show, though I don't know if it's really any good. I loved the first act - I thought it was acted very well (particularly by MLP). I liked half of act two, but thought that the play totally lost it during the airport scene. I understand that it was supposed to be absurd, but it just didn't work. I didn't like either the mistress or the wife, either.

Overall, I thought it was a nice evening - very funny. When the play tries to be serious, though - it fails. It comes off sounding pretentious and absurd when the "moral" comes into play at the end. I love Ruhl, but this isn't her best.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:55pm

I actually didn't like MLP. I've seen her do Float (Laban reference) before and it gets monotonous. You could drive a mack truck between her pauses.

I enjoyed Kathleen Chalfant, but I believe her talent was wasted in this show. The character wasn't well written.

Also some of the direction was poor. When the mother and the girl are sitting on the park bench, Chalfant is downstage having to turn upstage to deliver her lines. That's a no-no in Directing 101.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 1:57pm

park bench?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 2:01pm

"park bench?"

Wasn't it a park bench?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 2:50pm

I thought it was a very nice afternoon of fluff - nothing substantial, and I left slightly dissatisfied. In the end, an interesting subject that, as Munk said, lost it in the 2nd act.

No park bench.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 3:02pm

"No park bench."

What was Kathleen Chalfant sitting on when she had the conversation with MLP?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 3:28pm

You mean when they were at the funeral? I have no idea to what you're referring to.
I thought it was a mildly dull play made enjoyable by an incredible cast. I was falling asleep by the end of Act I, then gladly surprised by Bill Camp's great monologue at the beginning of Act II and Parker's scene with the wife character (that was in Act II, right?)...as Munk and Yankee said the play completely loses it at the airport. Yes, it is supposed to be absurd but it just gets out of control and loses any grip.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/11/08 at 3:34pm

I appreciate the comparisons Ruhl was trying to make vis-a-vis the idea of a cell phone being the lifeblood of society as a kidney is the lifeblood of the human body, but I don't think the play had to have gone into that level of absurdity.

I enjoyed that Gordon dealt organs on the black market, and, with Jean adding herself into his family members lives, the fact that she was sucked into his shady dealings.

I just feel that there could be a more credible solution.