ED2012 2/5 Reviews ED2012 Theatre Reviews

Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Red Chair Players)

By Thom May | Published on Saturday 4 August 2012

After Jean answers a stranger’s phone before she realises he’s died, she begins to use the phone to force herself into the dead man’s life. The play doesn’t fulfil the promise of its snappy dialogue: there is much hand-wringing about modernity, including the impersonal experience of the subway and our overuse of mobile phones, but it fails to become political or symbolic and instead opts for idiosyncrasy and romantic pseudo-spiritualism, closing with a brief turn in the absurd. The acting isn’t bad and there are well-delivered speeches, although it occasionally lacks energy. The young cast are promising but I suspect the play is to blame; it ultimately falls short of being about much more than a “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”.

C, 1-11 Aug, 3.45pm
tw rating 2/5 | [Thom May]