Dead Man’s Cell Phone On the 14th of April I saw Dead man’s cell phone at the Gordon Wilson theatre. The play whose playwright is Sarah Ruhl was directed by Dr. David Young. The protagonists of the play are Gordon played by Tyler Brown, Jean played by Kaitlyn Fouts, Mrs. Gottlieb played by Becca Trimbur, Dwight played by Keifer Adkins and Hermia played by Emily Wooten. Jean’s main goal is to comfort Gordon’s mourning of which she overcomes through lies about messages she heard from Gordon. Mrs. Gottlieb’s main focus is the life of Gordon, whose concern is also centered toward his mother’s love.
Hermia’s is deeply concerned with the affairs of her late husband Gordon, whereas Dwight’s goal is the bond with Jean. The actors were audible during play. I was able to follow with the narrative well because they presented it clearly. Becca Trimbur was loud and energetic compared to the other characters. She was also skilled in her etiquette, played out well to demonstrate the wealthy woman that she was. Keifer Adkins was calm on the other hand which made him stand out to be the nerd that he was. Emily Wooten had a scene where she drunk alcoholic drinks and was able to add realism of the behavior of such a person.
Her words speech and movement in this scene accurately imitated that of a drunk person. When Jean flew to South Africa to sell her kidney, the interested woman skillfully spoke in a strong and real Russian accent. The protagonists moved about the stage in a way from normal life which made the play more accurate because their movements depicted those of the real world. The play was meant to be both a comedy and drama because it had some funny humorous moments especially in Mrs. Gottlieb’s scenes and dramatic moments especially Jean’s fighting scene.
Dead man’s cellphone corresponds to my life in terms of communication. In Gordon’s funeral, Mrs. Gottlieb shouts at Jean, “you’ll never walk alone because you’ll always have a machine in your pants. ” I am always walking with my cell phone in my pants hence it perfectly describes this part of my life. This is something I think the playwright is trying to say about society, that we are fond with wireless communication. Jean leaving the service to go answer her phone shows how anxious we are to pick up our phones as soon as they ring or vibrate and allowing them to interrupt our daily lives by doing so.
