BOOM! The explosion plunges you into the dark abyss as the lights are swallowed up, and you hear the sound of plates greeting the floor. The sound of planes and explosions grow fainter, and two light bulbs bravely buzz back to life.

Welcome to the world of Edgewise (a new play by Eliza Clark, produced by The Play Company).

Surviving air strikes and flipping burgers at Dougal’s, a fast food restaurant in New Jersey, is all in a day’s work for three teens, Marco (Tobias Segal), Ruckus (Philip Ettinger), and Emma(Aja Naomi King). In this world and time, France is bombing America and jets adorn the sky as if they were clouds, raining bombs down on New Jersey. These three teens grew up in a world of violence where they see blood, and not oil, soaking highways. For them, it was just another day and just another air strike until a wounded and bleeding man, clothed in army garb, walks into Dougal’s, and collapses. In a world where everything is veiled in carefully crafted lies and deceit, the questions are many. Who is he? What is he doing here? But the answers, can you trust them? Is he who he says he is? How are we sure that he won’t kill us when he wakes up?

In the mist of all this madness, life continues. Dougal’s is still open for business, Marco is still stealing sodas, Emma is still getting mad at Marco and Ruckus for smoking, and Marco is still crushing on Emma.

Watching this you wonder, if that was happening right now, what would you do? Would you be able to carry on with life, as a soldier is bleeding to death in a fast food restaurant? If you were in a similar situation, would you act in the same way? Would you be as untrusting as those three individuals? Would you be able to cope with family members dying from the war and being betrayed by friends? If there was a World War III, would it be like this? And what would you do, if the war was right in your own backyard?

Edgewise makes you reflect on yourself and on the world. As you watch Louis (Alfredo Narciso), the battered soldier, enduring violent interrogations as his white socks transform into a brilliant crimson, you think of Guantanamo Bay, and how the prisoners were probably tortured much like how Louis is being tortured right in front of you.

And the suspense! There is so much is happening, one moment you are witnessing an air strike, another moment you are a voyeur, peeking in at love connection between Marco and Emma, and yet another moment, you are a fly on the wall of the room that a man is being tortured in. Throughout the play you are kept on the edge of your seat, at times you wish you could jump in and give some advice to the characters in the play and tell them, “No! Don’t do that!!!” The subject of the play is war, it is a serious and suspenseful play but it humors you, and affords you some laughs. Edgewise is an emotional rollercoaster and I definitely enjoyed the ride.