Panos Kandunias
HOME Mcr
September 11–14, 2024; 60 mins, no interval
I Bought a Flip Phone, a festival-ready one man show written and performed by Panos Kandunias, is a delight.
Not only am I old enough to remember the excitement of flip phones, but I’m old enough to recall the days when phones were attached to the wall In your parents’ unheated hallway and you needed to ask permission to use it.
Writer and performer Panos Kandunias is immediately endearing. Or is it the character, Charlie, who is endearing? It’s impossible to separate the two. Acting or self revelation, I don’t know. Possibly a mixture of the two. Regardless, I Bought a Flip Phone, is a great way to spend an hour, and the audience thought so too.
Charlie, a single gay man in his late 20s, isn’t thrilled with his life. An English literature graduate with a largely unsatisfying but fairly well paid job, he hasn’t as yet fulfilled expectations. His love life is rather empty, though his sex life seems to toddle along. It’s almost as if he’s is driving an old car that doesn’t always start, when what he really longs for is something sleek, powerful and enviable.
Envy is part of the problem. Modern technology and social media, essential these days to keeping in touch with everyone, also distances us, offering mainly the parts of peoples’ lives that they want to portray – the endless stories of parties, holidays, career successes and nights out with friends and lovers.
Charlie knows envy isn’t good and that he has lots to be thankful for: the relationship with his mother, strong and surviving friendships, and that reasonable salary. But he’s constantly waiting for "the one" and in these days of instant communications he’s constantly disappointed his anointed "one" isn’t as yet playing that role, and possibly never will.
To calm himself down he buys an old-fashioned flip phone, limiting the instant absorption of the stories and images our world wants to share with us.
The set is barely nothing; little more than a coffee table as a perch for the flip phone, which almost becomes a second character. Regardless of the limitations of his purchase, Charlie is still totally hooked, instantly responding to every chirp. Will it bring acceptance of his birthday party invites, a sensuous call from the man of his dreams (whom he actually met in real life), or yet another call from his supportive and anxious mother?
One performer, one hour can tax attention, but flip phone rarely does. There is pace, and a dramatic arc. The flip phone scenario is simply a device to bring the story to life, and fundamentally little has changed. Young adults still question their life’s direction, still compare their lives with those of others, still love but can be irritated by their mothers, and still wait for the one of the moment to call – as my generation did when the phone was attached to the wall. It’s just the same even in 1944's Meet Me In St. Louis, though thankfully a little more private.
It will be interesting to see what Pandos does next. Was he acting or is Charlie simply himself? Whatever he does, I hope he returns to HOME with something new, for this is a remarkable early career performance.
Info and tickets here