Dead Man's Cell Phone Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...It is not a perfect production—Ruhl's shows work best when realistic precision gives way to seismic change. This staging lacks veracity in places—a major needless distraction in the pivotal first scene, for example, is that you keep thinking that nobody would make those kinds of physical moves in such a circumstance. The broadly comedic characters—performed by Mary Beth Fisher and Molly Regan—don't feel fully organic or secure (although they both are funny). And whatever physical metaphors are in play aren't fully formed. The show lacks shape and only parts of it feel sufficiently spontaneous."

Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...The blackly comic situation Ruhl has conjured to bring all these notions into play is more than a little eccentric and altogether fanciful, and director Jessica Thebus has balanced the plaintive, the edgy and the full-out loony aspects of it all with a deft hand."

Daily Herald - Recommended

"... this meditation on communication and connection and the capacity for technology to both bring us together and drive us apart, "Dead Man's Cell Phone" has a quirky charm. Its existential musings keep things interesting. And while they don't add much to the narrative, the twirling umbrellas and softly illuminated paper houses look adorable."

SouthtownStar - Somewhat Recommended

"...Although playwright Sarah Ruhl's satiric riff on cell phones and the inanities of modern life in "Dead Man's Cell Phone" offers many hilarious scenes and quirky characters, the play comes off more as a "Saturday Night Live" skit than a fully realized play."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...The cast is just about perfect. Dressed for an Edward Gorey book, Molly Regan is both funny and unexpectedly affecting as Gordon’s eccentric, intimidating mother, while Coburn Goss gives Gordon’s brother Dwight a quiet, sexy masculinity even as he braids hair and talks creamy paper finishes. Mary Beth Fisher and Sarah Charipar each get a hilarious set piece as Gordon’s wife and mistress. But it’s Marc Grapey’s big speech as Gordon himself that crosses over into realms of the bravura. A talented actor who hasn’t yet gotten his due, Grapey deserves big moments like this even if he has to play dead to get them."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"...It engages cosmic subject matter, including life, death and the afterlife, but it's schematic in structure and character, like one of the better sitcoms. Dead Man's Cell Phone is pithy, really funny, well-performed and well-directed ( by Jessica Thebus, who rarely does wrong ) . It's a good night out, but not one that can withstand close scrutiny. Similar to plays such as Art and Proof, it's sure to be a widely-produced at regional houses nationwide."

Chicago Free Press - Not Recommended

"...It’s unfortunate when the best thing a play has going for it is its title—although, to be fair, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” is a killer. With an appellation like that, you’d be forgiven for expecting Sarah Ruhl’s new work to be a thriller or a moody noir piece. It’s neither, yet in fits and spurts this fanciful but convoluted comedy seems to wish it were."

Gay Chicago Magazine - Recommended

"...Director Jessica Thebus compiles an outstanding cast to extract every morsel of brilliance from the script and an excellent design team to create a simple and elegant manifestation of its physical reality. Mary Beth Fisher delivers a magnificently engaging performance of Hermia, perhaps the most dimensionally comprehensive character in the play. Andre Pluess’s original music is a breathtakingly subtle infusion of incidental and evocative jazz that carries us to other emotional levels as much as the play itself."

EpochTimes - Highly Recommended

"...Directed by Jessica Thebus and choreographed by Ann Boyd, this is a stunning production on a unique set by Scott Bradley. A non musical being choreographed is rare indeed, but each scene change is in fact a work of art through great movement by the crew involved. There are also some wonderful moments with glorious lighting by James F. Ingalls and a cast that is pure perfection. Noonan plays Jean with just the right flair."

Copley News Service - Recommended

"...Jessica Thebus directs the script like she knows exactly what Ruhl wants. Her staging is fluent and she mines whatever fanciful comedy lies embedded in the dialogue. Scenic designer Scott Bradley, in tandem with lighting designer James F. Ingalls, has created an all-purpose set that resembles an Edward Hopper painting, with its atmosphere of melancholy, isolation, and lack of communication."

Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended

"...The hype surrounding the play implies the presence of revolutionary artistry, but it's just a sentimental romcom with a metaphysical twist. It's pleasant enough, but why are we all so excited about a weirded-out stage version of 'While You Were Sleeping'?"

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"... Incessantly quirky Ruhl seems to want to explore the ways that technology such as mobile phones makes us both more and less accessible. But while some parts of Thebus’s staging provoke—both Mary Beth Fisher and Molly Regan, as the dead man’s wife and mother, respectively, achieve stylized humanity—the endeavor is hampered by Polly Noonan’s performance as Jean."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...I enjoyed this fascinating work which could use some tightening and a clearer focus yet it contains several richly textured speeches and memorable characters."