Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Dear Annie, I Hate You
Wild Geese Productions in association with HFH Productions
Genre: Comedy, Drama, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard Pleasance Two
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A surprising, stylish and deeply personal piece that blends humour with genuinely emotive writing. Top tier work.
Review
The stage set up in Pleasance Two is adorned with retro TVs, glowing wires that hint at eventually connecting them together and a giant plastic sheet as a backdrop that gives the impression of a space tucked away from view – something hidden. Something unreachable. This duality of meaning is consistent throughout the writing and Dear Annie, I Hate You is a show with great style and a distinct aesthetic.
Sam takes the stage, dressed simply in a blue boiler suit, articulate in delivery and engaging from the start. Her ability to connect with the audience and command their attention is effortless and charismatic. We hear about her early life and the arrival of her adopted brother, Micah, interspersed with micro-lectures about the brain – its functions and the many cause-and-effect processes in operation at all times. The writing is succinct and evocative, often sparking memories of my own experiences that made me empathise and associate many of the moments described.
Images of Sam’s friends and family appear on the various screens as short, often disjointed talking heads. The aim is to keep us slightly unsettled and this bleeds into the performance itself, with Sam occasionally making us wonder if something has genuinely gone wrong by opening up an awkward dialogue with the show operator. However, it becomes clear that she is intentionally wrong-footing us to create tension and confusion. After all, this is about a woman living with a condition that could kill her at any moment: an aneurysm.
There are fun moments of audience interaction, nothing embarrassing for participants, and the fourth wall is appropriately broken frequently. Clever touches, such as mid-show trigger warnings to “look away now”, work brilliantly and spare the squeamish from the ‘gory’ moments Sam describes and shows.
Samantha Ipema is an outstanding performer, which is the true strength of the play, with the excellent writing a close second. She holds court with supreme confidence, expressive and yet unafraid to mine the difficult depths of her medical condition. She strikes a perfect balance between entertainment and raw vulnerability. Ipema is joined by the impish Eleanor House as Annie, who arrives in a whirlwind of song, spontaneity and provocation. As the living embodiment of her aneurysm, she consistently challenges Sam to confront the truth and resist burying her head in the sand.
Dear Annie, I Hate You is top-quality theatre. Everything has come together and gelled beautifully: Ipema and House have a cracking rapport, the script is excellent and the direction and design combine perfectly to create a tight and effective show.
