The Wind Telephone

Audacious Serendipity—Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall

From the write-up, the premise is quite clear: grieving man creates a telephone to talk to the dead. The phone becomes a spiritual portal for all who grieve.

By all means, this should have been a profoundly sorrowful tale, evoking enough teardrops to cause a tsunami—but it wasn’t. Through most of the show, I couldn’t figure why I only felt moments of sadness and many streaks of apathy. The tales are thoughtful and the circumstances are all dire. What’s missing?

Towards the end, I figured it out. I didn’t feel for any of the characters. For most tragedies, you build a relationship with the characters and by the time tragedy hits, you’re sharing a life/experience with the characters. Here, you only get the sorry—you don’t get the development, and you never get to bond with the characters.

I applaud Adam Keefe for a bold effort. He has great intentions with a great story to tell. Unfortunately, it falls a bit short because a key piece of the puzzle is missing.

Ray Yuen