After the tone, Ballarat, the show is yours

03 October 2026

There is something irresistible about a ringing phone.

Especially when it isn't yours.

Sarah Ruhl knew exactly what she was doing when she put one at the heart of Dead Man's Cell Phone.

Now, as Ballarat National Theatre prepares to bring her funny, strange and unexpectedly moving play to the stage, we're handing the phone to Ballarat.

And we have absolutely no idea what you're going to say.

That's the point.

One of the moments in Dead Man's Cell Phone is a “symphony” of recorded phone messages. It would have been easy enough to gather the cast around a microphone and manufacture the voices ourselves.

Director Benj Beatty had a better idea.

This is community theatre. Why not let the community into the show?

So, somewhere in Ballarat, a phone is waiting.

Call 0480 837 434 and you'll hear Gordon asking you to leave a message.

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What happens next is entirely up to you.

You have 30 seconds.

Tell someone something you've never quite had the nerve to say. Share some hard-earned wisdom.
Leave a message for someone you miss. Make a confession. Tell us something gloriously ordinary. Finally apologise for that thing you did in 1997.
Or shamelessly plug your Ballarat business.

Benj says not knowing what might arrive on the other end of the line is half the fun.

“We could record the messages ourselves, but this is community theatre, so why not actually put the
community in the show?

“I have no idea what Ballarat is going to tell us, and that's what I love about it.

“The best messages will become part of the symphony, so you could be sitting in a packed theatre
and suddenly hear your own voice coming back at you.”

There are some boundaries, because handing an unattended telephone line to the general public
requires at least some faith in humanity.

Keep it suitable for a general audience. No offensive language, defamatory material, political
commentary or attacks on people or organisations.

And by all means tell us a secret. Just make sure it's yours.

Selected messages may be edited for length before the best are woven into the production.

Funny, tender, strange, profound or completely pointless. We don't mind.

The phone is waiting.

Call 0480 837 434.

Wait for Gordon.

Then, after the tone, you've got 30 seconds.

What will you say?

Dead Man's Cell Phone runs at the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute from 23 October to 1 November
Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/bnt-dead-mans-cell-phone/tickets