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★★★★
This one-man play sees Charlie approaching his 27th birthday and trying to take control of his chaotic life by ditching his iPhone for an old-school Nokia flip phone. He’s become disenchanted with the time wasted by constant scrolling, his unrequited feelings for a guy who doesn’t care if he lives or dies, his estrangement from his best friend who now lives an expensive eighty-minute train ride away and he feels crowded by texts and calls from his anxious mother. Charlie doesn’t want to ‘catch up’ with his bestie now and again. He wants to stay connected in real life.
There’s a lot to think about in this play. How is it possible for someone to be so isolated, desperate, and unhappy? Will a flip phone really help, or is it just a symptom of Charlie’s attempts to bring sense and order to his empty life? There’s some great observational comedy in and around the modern cultural expectation for instant replies to texts and the paradox that a bright, intelligent young man can be intensely lonely despite the always-on connections of today’s digital age.
Enjoy the humour. Have a good laugh. But come away from this thinking about the real-life implications of the smartphone age for the Charlies of this world. I don’t think a flip phone will fix it.
Reviewed by David Kerr
