SAN DIEGO–This region, it appears, is more than ready for Sarah Ruhl’s quirkiness. It’s not that we have not yet been exposed to her plays. We have indeed. The San Diego Repertory Theatre downtown has produced two of her works, The Clean House and In The Room Next Door (or the vibrator play”) to critical and audience acclaim. Last year, Moxie Theatre mounted Eurydice, also to critical acclaim.
Recently Grossmont College opened its 50th anniversary year season with Ruhl’s 2008 comedy Dead Man’s Cell Phone for an eight-performance run while in a little bit of an overlap Moxie Theatre in their Rolando space just opened its 7th season with Ruhl’s “Cell Phone”, a thoroughly delightful mix of comedy, fantasy with metaphysical dabbling through Nov. 6th.
For those who might think that a cell phone has no life after death, (the death of its owner, that is) think again. When Gordon’s cell phone continues to ring with no sign of his answering it, Jean, who is sitting at a table across from him in the same no name café, she decides to find out why. When she gets no rise from him, (“are you ill, are you deaf”) she answers the phone, checking in with him every now and then until she realizes that he is dead.
One would think that a relatively bright person would call for help immediately. But for Jean, that doesn’t occur to her until she’s answered several of the calls that come in to Gordon’s phone, including one from his mother. Finally she realizes that she needs to get Gordon out of the café and notifies the authorities. When they finally take him away, Jean decides to keep his phone.
The long trip to never, never land begins for Jean and for all those that come in contact with her and naturally, for us. Hang on to your hats; suspend all reality because this is one funny, bizarre and weird journey on which we are about to embark.
For some unknown reason except having a sense of being connected, (to a dead man) Jean feels an uncompromising tie to Gordon. Aside from promising to stay with him after she realizes that he is dead, Jean makes another life altering decision at his memorial service: (“Help me, God. Help me to comfort his loved ones. Help me to help the memory of Gordon live on in the minds and hearts of his loved ones. I only knew him for a short, time, God. But I think that I loved him, in a way…”)
Sooooooooo. After Jean and his family meet at and after and the service: Mrs. Gottlieb, his mother, Dwight, his brother, Hermia his wife and The Other Woman his lover, they begin their slide into a world and /or another world neither side expected. Jean’s mission is to ease the pain of those left behind with Gordon’s unexpected death
With two visions from two different perspectives, production companies, casts and directors it is only natural that two very different products will emerge. Yours truly has seen more than one show of the same name, over the lifetime of reviewing theatre, with contrasting outcomes and this is no different. And the difference is as night is to day.
The feeling yours truly came away with after seeing the Grossmont production directed by Martin Katz was one of overall disappointment in the lack of energy this show exuded. Layla Stuckey, who played Jean was too laid back and disengaged, so her credibility right from the getgo was nil as was that of Julia Nardin as the other woman and the stranger.
The one shining light in this production was Aaron Duggan’s Gordon. For a dead man, he pumped life into this production every time he opened his mouth and spoke, which was mostly in the second act. If the first act had as much energy as the second, the end result would have been very different.
Stephanie Johnson played Mrs. Gottlieb, Gordon’s mother, with flair and Adrian Brown who was Dwight; Gordon’s brother also added some laughs and life to the show and once Mary DiMasi’s Hermia, Gordon’s wife, was liberated with a few martinis she rocked. Manny Lopez’s lighting was well done especially when two of the Chorus guys kept flashlights fastened on Gordon for about five minutes or so when he gave his monologue on the last day of his life.
With the age of technology not going away, but bringing us deeper and deeper into the world of being connected by electronics rather than personal touch, Ruhl has hit a nerve in this very funny and imaginative piece.
It became all too apparent in Moxie’s production under the direction of artistic director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg that she understands when to go all out outrageously funny as with Yolanda Franklin’s ‘Other Woman’ hooker look (Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ costumes are a hoot) or dead pan humor as in the terrific facial expressions of Joanne Glover’s Jean.
It’s like turning the pages of a book and never knowing what other wicked details the author has in store for you and you can’t put the book down. Gordon’s (Matt Thompson) cell phone works for Jean like a dating service. Every time she answers his phone, she meets up with someone new. That it gets her into some sticky situations is obvious when in a turn about, Jean faces some pretty weird situations in Act II that allows the playwright to lead us, again, into the metaphysical world and through the fourth wall. It’s a bit of a push, but funny nonetheless.
Matt Thompson’s Gordon is at his all time best in this production, Jonathan Sachs is perfect as Gordon’s no personality brother, Dwight, Lisel Gorell-Gets is a hoot as Hermia, a former world class ice skating champion (especially when she comes out on skates in her skating outfit) and Katherine Herbruck (with her mink over her nightgown) is on the mark as Mrs. Gottlieb.
Christopher Wards set design is intimate, as it should be for this play, with ramps on either side for the characters to exit and or enter away from the traditional. The Grossmont production also used the stairs leading up to and around the seating area, which gave the production more flexibility, but the playing area could have been brought in a bit to make the overall production have a closer feel to the audience.
If you do hear a cell phone ringing during your time at the theatre, make sure it’s not the one on your person. Jean has enough to cope with with Gordon’s. Enjoy!
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Nov. 6th
Organization: Moxie Theatre
Phone: 858-598+7620
Production Type: Comedy
Where: 6663 El Cajon Blvd, Ste. N, San Diego, Ca 92115
Ticket Prices: start at $25.00
Web: moxietheatre.com