AVAdventure Productions

It’s a given that many Capital Fringe Festival shows could be considered “high-concept.” So try not to be too alarmed by the distribution of wireless headphones at the beginning of Double Freakquency. And turn off those cell phones; per the ushers and the programs, leaving your phone on silent and trying to beat Candy Crush in the dark will interfere with the soundtrack.

Here’s the story: Double Freakquency‘s plot is relatively simplistic. A pair of former roommates, Renée (Caitlin Carbone) and Alex (Summer McCarley), now live in neighboring apartments separated by apparently phyllo-thin walls. But Alex is suffering from the apparent misery of living alone, a situation that turns much more wretched when Renée ads nice-guy bowling aficionado TJ (Mauricio Marces) as a roommate.

Lonely and scheming, Alex cannot help but use the thin barrier between apartments to disrupt Renée and TJ at all hours, from loud music to fake dinner parties. Eventually, she takes on an unemployed and couch-surfing schlub Doug (Josh Blubaugh) as her roommate, but mostly as a pawn in her schizoid game.

But the audience member only gets to listen in on one apartment at a time, or split between spoken lines and internal monologues. The dual-channel headphones are meant to be switched back and forth between audio tracks, effectively creating two shows. Renée and TJ are amicable and chit-chatty, while Alex and Doug are chaotic and destructive. Guess which pair bleeds through to the other’s side more easily.

For such a low-concept story—neighbors from Hell, roommates with neuroses—Double Freakquency is weirdly compelling. You will miss some lines, but catch others your neighbor does not hear. The only thing everyone in the audience will agree with is that nobody would want to live with any of these four.

Remaining show:
Saturday, July 27, 8:30 p.m.
At The Studio Theatre Stage 4, 1501 14th Street NW
Buy tickets here.