When Jean answers a ringing cell phone in a diner she finds herself embarking on a journey that will change her life forever. From the back room of a stationery store where true love is found inside embossed envelopes to celestial Laundromats where beloveds wash their socks together for all eternity, Jean finds herself thrust into a surreal world where she is forced to confront issues of morality, mortality and memorial. The cell phone in question is the property of recently deceased Gordon Gottlieb. In her new role as secretary for the departed, Jean endeavours to tie up all the ends that Gordon has left loose in any way she can. Read more …
Scene shifts sometimes feel like an eternity, but for the most part the action is crisp.
Playful if uneven...there's still great fun to be had.
Susan Worfold gives a lovely, wry performance as Jean, touching lightly and wittily on the words of Ruhl’s text, allowing them to speak for themselves; Vanessa Coffey is very funny indeed as Gordon’s posh and leggy widow. Elsewhere, though, this post-graduate production does a difficult text no favours; and it invites questions about what the RSAMD’s directing class are learning, if not how to avoid the kind of clumsiness, and lack of flow, that weakens this show from the start.
Dead Man's Cell Phone
The Arches, Glasgow from Wednesday June 8, 2011, until Friday June 10, 2011. More info: www.thearches.co.uk
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