Dead Man's Cell Phone @ OSF

We saw and heard Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone last night, a comedy with occasional sermons by the dead man, Gordon, of the title fame. The title gives away the opening gambit. From there it's anyone's guess where this play will go. As usual with Ms Ruhl, another world, or maybe worlds, always seem(s) to hover fairly close to her characters, ready to serve the playwright's needs.

By the way, that is a cartoon of this young and very talented playwright to the left. I took it from an excellent article in the New Yorker magazine on her and her plays by John Lahr. Recommended reading. He calls her way of writing "non-linear realism." I might add a touch of magic too as in "magic realism" from our friends to the south.

This play was entertaining sometimes, and almost always the characters had some crazy or just annoying habits that we were never quite sure whether she was in favor of them or not. There was ample room for the stagecraft magic of OSF to be displayed, and of course, the players were all superb. One of my favorites, Catherine Coulson, my wife always remembers her as the "Fuddy Meers" lady, played a very funny lady of a certain age. I wasn't sure if the cellphones that went off while she was talking were part of the play or not: she could well have been extemporizing about them: a loud Fuck from an unexpected character always brings down the house. The kids like it too.

There was an interesting division between the generations at the end, which Ms Ruhl seemed to have some difficulty finding. The kids all stood and the old folks stayed seated and clapped in a measured way. I'm not sure the kids stood because they thought it was an outstanding play well performed, or because they had learned from watching Oprah that that is what you do at the end of a performance, no matter the quality.