Dead Man’s Cell Phone

An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet cafe.

A stranger at the next table who has had enough.

And a dead man – with a lot of loose ends.

So begins Dead Man’s Cell Phone, the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about mortality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.

This Vancouver premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s play ran from Sept 9-19th, 2010,  at the Firehall Arts Centre, as part of the 2010 Vancouver International Fringe Festival.

This production was directed by Kevin McNulty, and featured an impressive collection of veteran Vancouver actors:

• Stephen Aberle
• Eileen Barrett
• Zena Daruwalla
• Marion Eisman
• Suzanne Ristic
• Ari Solomon

Stage management is by Ronaye Haynes.

Designer is Pam Johnson.

Sound by Robert Ouimet.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Co-Op, being produced at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival.

Ten performances only between Sept 9-19th, 2010.

• All performances are at the Firehall Arts Centre.
• All tickets are sold through the Vancouver International Fringe Festival.  Buy online, or at the Fringe box office on Granville Island – all major credit cards accepted.
• Tickets will also be sold at the door starting 45 minutes prior to show time, subject to availability. Please note that these are  cash only.  Please see the Fringe website for ticket prices and tips.

Click here for show times.

You can contact us by email:  info@deadmanscellphone.ca

To get a list of our show times sent to you via email, just email us at shows@deadsmanscellphone.ca

Many thanks to our sponsors and everyone who has helped us with this production.

“Ruhl writes in a poised, crystalline style about things that are irrational and invisible … In her plays, Ruhl contends with the pressing existential issues; her stoic comic posture is a means of killing gravity, of taking the heaviness out of her words in order to better contend with life … Her plays are bold.  Her nonlinear form of realism – full of astonishments, surprises and mysteries – is low on exposition and psychology … She writes with space, sound and image as well as words; her goal is to make the audience live in the moment, to make the known unfamiliar in order to reanimate it.  Dead Man’s Cell Phone is a mad pilgrimage of an imagination as it is invaded and atomized by the phone, which transforms private as well as public space.”
– John Lahr, New Yorker

“Satire is her oxygen. . . . In her new oddball comedy, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Sarah Ruhl is forever vital in her lyrical and biting takes on how we behave.”
-The Washington Post

“Ruhl’s zany probe of the razor-thin line between life and death delivers a fresh and humorous look at the times we live in.”
-Variety

“Sarah Ruhl is deliriously imaginative and fearless in her choice of subject matter. She is an original.”
-Molly Smith, artistic director, Arena Stage