Edgar and Annabel by Pony World Theatre
There is a Kurt Vonnegut quote that goes, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” It’s from the book, Mother Night where the lead character takes on a false identity to go undercover as a spy in Nazi Germany. Eventually, the false identity becomes the real one. Pony World Theatre’s Edgar and Annabel, which just closed, turned that on its head. The play takes place in a country on the threshold of dystopia. The government is eliminating all opposition. Among their tools is surveillance. They are listening, always listening. When their A.I. hears anomalies in conversation, they move in. To thwart this, the opposition has set up safe houses to conduct their activities. They avoid suspicion by scripting everything the occupants say, literally. The most ordinary conversations are written out, from ‘Hi, honey, I’m home,” to, “I’m going to bed.” This allows them to pass secret messages, and to cover for subversive activities, all wh...