Review: Dear Annie I Hate You, Riverside Studios

Straight from the Edinburgh Fringe, Dear Annie, I Hate You is a promising piece of theatre. It hits us with gravitas and frivolity as we are immersed into playwright Samantha Ipema’s world: better yet, her brain. 

An autobiographical account that brings us right up to the present second, Ipema’s writing takes us through her journey of being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. The play uses a clever exploration of multimedia elements, with a co-creation of video design by Douglas Cohan and Dan Light fitting in seamlessly to designer Hugo Dodsworth’s vision of an array of old television sets. The videos played show us fragmented memories of Sam’s family and friends and perhaps the words that have stuck with her. Ipema takes centre stage from the top, and we watch her connect the pathways to these facets of memories using a neon tubing that subtly signifies the brain’s pathways. 

Sam toys with the decision to have surgery to remove the aneurysm (“and potentially die”) or continue life with it intact (“and potentially die”). It seems the only options she has left are shrouded in life’s fragility and inevitable doom; posing the question, if it all ended now “Have you lived a life that’s worth living?” 

Hearing the play’s outline, you may be thinking ‘Do I really want to sit through a bleak 75 minutes, only to come out questioning the meaning of my life?’ Well, you may come out questioning your life, but Ipema’s writing combined with James Meteyard’s direction will have you relishing the fact that you are alive and have the freedom to choose how to live, unlike Sam. Which brings us to dear old ‘Annie’… 

Meet Annie the aneurysm, a real life enigma with a flair for the dramatic. Played beautifully by Eleanor House, Annie stages a takeover of Sam’s story. And I mean this in the literal sense, as Annie bursts onto the stage and steals our attention. When she’s on stage, it’s all about her, and boy does she makes us know it. As Annie darts about the stage, singing an array of pop classics and interjecting at every opportunity possible, we can’t help but giggle. She is like an annoying pest that you can’t seem to shake. This comedy of chaos, which teeters on the edge of being a little too frenzied to follow, is met with informative interjections on how the brain works and, more memorably, a quite graphic short lesson on the surgery of an aneurysm itself. (Disclaimer, if you’re squeamish, not to worry as you are invited to freely step outside if it gets a bit much).

Undeniably the play has humour about everything that Annie is, but just as Sam’s life is consumed by the aneurysm, the performance is consumed by Annie. Moments of gravitas to counteract the comedy are fleeting, so when the gut punch comes it doesn’t have the desired effect, as up until that point we only see Sam as she wants us to see her, not as she truly is. Nevertheless, right at the end Sam’s true vulnerability does eventually come into play and we are able to applaud her for her conviction to not let the aneurysm take over her life. In fact, she can choose her own narrative; and indeed she chooses this – to tell her story to us. 

Written by: Samantha Ipema
Directed & Dramaturg by: James Meteyard
Sound Design by: Dan Balfour
Set & Lighting Design by: Hugo Dodsworth
Co-Video Design by: Douglas Cohan
Co-Video Design by: Dan Light
Movement Director: Jade Hackett
Fight & Intimacy Director: Robin Hellier & Bethan Clark (Associate)
Produced by Wild Geese Productions in association with HFH Productions

Dear Annie, I Hate You plays at Riverside Studios Hammersmith until Sunday 1 June.