An immediate sense of appreciation is grasped when entering a certain, rather petite hidden gem of Hillcrest. March 22, 2014, the Ion Theater Company featured a play by Sam Holcroft and directed by Linda Libby: "Edgar and Annabel." The intimate theater offered an tableau of the production and left the characters near arms reach. This quaint space complimented the comedy thriller that takes place mostly in an immaculate, display like kitchen. Slick, edgy and unanticipating, "Edgar & Annabel" portrays what seems to be a typical suburban couple. Yet, the play is quick in throwing the audience a curveball during the opening scene. All attention is sharpened as the husband arrives home and a waving knife in his wife's hand is her means of greeting him. The two are forcibly reading from scripts and the truth behind the two is revealed. They are aliases, two rebels that Nick and Marianne are to portray during a secretive preparation to overthrow an oppressive British government. They are living double lives, living by a script as Edgar and Annabel in an apartment that is presumably being monitored constantly by government computers. Allegedly set in the future, where everything is being tracked by the government or as George Orwell would refer to as a "Big Brother" scheme. The play is clever and raw, while insinuating what would happen to a society if surveillance were to get completely out of hand.
The beginning scene leaves chance for misinterpretation as characters are reading from scripts when the production begins. You know something is not quite as it should be when characters read from scripts. So, one would assume. In this case it is crucial to the actors' continuance that every word they say comes off the page. Otherwise the government microphones hidden around the couple's kitchen will detect that they are not a normal couple after all, rather discover their plot to overtake the government.
