Can You Hear Me Now? I’m Dead!

From the complicated mind of Sarah Ruhl, who always seems to find humor in the art of dying, comes this latest comedy which delves into how one persons search for an emotional connection spirals into a journey of self awareness. The premise on its own is worthy of a chuckle. While Jean is finishing the last drop of lobster bisque at a local diner, a cell phone continuously rings at the adjacent table. Taking matters into her own hands, Jean confronts the cell phone offender, who is a bit askew in his chair. As the title of the play suggests, because the gentlemen has expired, Jean begins answering the dead man's cell phone and opportunistically becomes his liaison to the living. What unravels is a hilarious yet somewhat disturbing reflection on what people perceive and what is real. Any further plot information would end up spoiling the show, except to say that look out for a character's suicide scene worthy of Mrs. Lovett's in Sweeny Todd.

As Jean, the fantastic Peggy Noonan is a comic delight, bringing a very sweet humanity to what could easily be viewed as a manipulative and psychotic character. It is clear the playwright wrote this work with Noonan in mind, as their collaborations have been manifested on various stages for the last decade. Ms. Noonan, who was seen in last season's Passion Play at the Goodman, brings an almost childlike optimism to Jean who is desperately seeking attention.

The laughs unfurl as the dead man's family and colleagues are introduced to Jean as his family becomes hers. Molly Regan as Mrs. Gottlieb is wonderfully cutting as the mother whom wanted to be acknowledged by her son as ‘good'. Coburn Goss as the dead man's brother is terrific in bringing calm to the chaos. Mary Beth Fisher plays the dead man's long suffering wife and has great on stage chemistry with Ms. Noonan.

It is when Marc Grapey (Gordon, the dead man) takes the stage in the second act monologue that all the pieces of the puzzle begin to fit, and it is his commentary on mankind that gives Ruhl's play it's voice of reason (or unreason).

Director Jessica Thebus keeps the action moving at a swift pace on an overly sparse set. Though prior works of Ms. Ruhl, such as The Clean House and Eurydice, seem much tighter in construction, Dead Man's Cell Phone certainly accomplishes its goal as a social commentary on how people thrive attention and saying what other people want to hear just for a greater since of self importance and acceptance.

Dead Man's Cell Phone plays through July 27, 2008 at Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted, Chicago. For tickets and show times please visit www.steppenwolf.org

Photo: Polly Noonan (left) and Marc Grapey (right) in Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Jessica Thebus at Steppenwolf Theatre March 27 – July 27, 2008. Photo by Michael Brosilow.