BLUE/ORANGE. To 10 June.
Watford
BLUE/ORANGE
by Joe Penhall
Palace Theatre To 10 June 2006
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 3pm & 31 May, 7 June 2.30pm
Audio-described 10 June 3pm
Stagetext 6 June
Post-show discussion 30 May
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS: 01923 225671
www.watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 May
Intriguing if not always convincing.
Joe Penhall’s characters here are all out to achieve something, and the sympathy each elicits is in line with the consciousness of their aims, and the degree of power they possess in gaining their ambitions.
For Black youth Christopher, it’s simply to leave the institution where he’s been sectioned for 28 days. He has no idea he’s mentally ill; if there are problems, it’s because others are out to get him.
Rising young medic Bruce, who’s been treating Chris, thinks he should stay in longer, but needs higher authority to sustain the sectioning. At first, Bruce is thinking about his patient, but he’s already been looking after his own career, inviting the boss to a rugger match then home for food. And principles twist like girders in an inferno when his prospects are put on the line.
But it’s consultant Robert – top of the heap and still rising – who twists and scrambles reality to fit his thesis-propping view. The ne plus ultra of official sanity, the ‘Authority’ to whom all must bow and from whom Bruce should be grateful to learn, Robert’s view of the world – and of Christopher – tilts towards what suits his career. This may be sanity, but is it any kind of truth? In steering Chris towards complaining about Bruce, Robert exploits apparent patient power for his own ends. While Chris feels everyone’s out to get him, his mind instinctively selecting things other say to him as proof, Robert manipulates reality to gain power.
The sympathy syndrome also reflects how well each character is drawn, from Christopher, the most fully realised, to Robert who is an amalgam of careerist clichés. Joyce Branagh’s production catches each character better than it does the play’s overall rhythm. Marcel McCalla shows Christopher’s mix of self-protective attack and wide-eyed vulnerability. Alex Lowe is efficiently low-key till near the end where he clearly shows the wheedling and the self-disgust of career-saving flattery. Gerard Murphy’s a strong classical actor but here his performance is too mannered and emphatic in a production that has some good moments but too rarely makes its component performances cohere.
Christopher: Marcel McCalla
Bruce: Alex Lowe
Robert: Gerard Murphy
Director: Joyce Branagh
Designer: Richard Foxton
Lighting: Tony Simpson
Composer: Matt Downing
Assistant directors: Kate McCarthy, Katy Silverton
2006-05-23 08:38:35