(Andrew Buckland, Marty
Kintu & Nicholas Pauling)
(Review from the Hilton Arts Festival from
Keith Millar)
One of the flagship productions at the Hilton Arts Festival this year was
the provocative and dark psychological thriller Blue /Orange. This award-winning play by British playwright Joe
Penhall first saw the light of day in London in 2000. The version which took to
the stage at the impressive Hilton College Theatre (Grindrod Bank Theatre for
the festival) comes from Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre.
The play focuses on two doctors working at a British National Health
Services Mental Institution They are treating a young black man named
Christopher, who has been under observation for suspected Borderline
Personality Disorder. The time has now arrived for Christopher to be released
from the institution.
However, Bruce, the younger and relatively inexperienced Doctor, who has
been supervising Christopher’s treatment is concerned that the problem may be
much more serious. Christopher believes that he is the illegitimate son of
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and is also convinced that oranges are blue.
Bruce approaches his superior, the senior consultant Dr Robert Smith, and
suggests that Christopher may be a Paranoid Schizophrenic and should be kept
for further observation and treatment.
Dr Smith who is a bombastic and highly ambitious man will hear nothing of
it. To retain a patient is not part of the National Health Services plan. And
the ramifications could have a far-reaching impact on his ambitions.
What follows is an inflammatory power struggle which not only deals with
the patient’s mental illness but also controversial issues around his ethnic
and social status. By the end of the conflict, it is difficult to decide who of
the three characters is mad who is sane.
What marks this production of Blue
/ Orange as something special is the stellar performances from the cast of
three.
Leading the way is an outstanding Andrew Buckland as the self-important
Dr. Robert Smith. His portrayal of this bombastic and supercilious character is
masterful and commanding.
Marty Kintu as Christopher creates an energetic, disturbed and strangely
likable character. In a mesmerising and sustained performance he is the epitome
of the street-wise urban youth.
The younger Doctor, Bruce, is played by Nicholas Pauling. He plays a
serious and intense character with great sensitivity and composure.
Directed by Clare Stopford, Blue /
Orange is an articulate, expressive and darkly humorous play which leaves
its audience members questioning their own sanity. – Keith Millar
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