|
Blue/Orange
By Joe Penhall
Directed by Jessica Jackson
Produced by Actors Revolution Theatre
At Victory Gardens Greenhouse Studio
2257 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $15 - $20
Thursdays & Fridays at 8:30 PM
Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3:30 PM
Running time is 2 hours, 25 minutes with 2 intermissions
Through January 20, 2007
Schizophrenia is the worst pariah. One of the greatest last taboos. People don't understand it. They don't want to understand it. It scares them. It depresses them. It is not treatable with glamorous and intriguing wonderdrugs like Prozac or Viagra. It isn't newsworthy. It isn't curable.
-- Robert from Blue/Orange
Terrific performances propel intense look at mental illness and race
The new theatre company, Actors Revolution Theatre (ART) has mounted a marvelous production of British playwright Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange, an incendiary tale of race, madness and a power struggle between an idealistic young psychiatrist and his supervising doctor bent on following the Britich National Health Service policies. This is a wordy, yet important play that gets to the gray areas that complicate governmental views of race and mental illness.
 |
At the heart of the story is Christopher (Chris Lamberth), a Black man held in a London psychiatric hospital for in-patient treatment for borderline personality disorder. Today is the end of the 28-day detention period and the idealistic young doctor, Bruce (Jeff Radue in a strikingly persuasive performance) suspects that Christopher is indeed rally a schizophrenic in desperate need of more in-house treatment. Christopher complicates things with his intelligence and wit yet he believes he is the son of an African dictator and he mater-of-factually believes the oranges before him are blue and that upon peeling, the insides of the oranges are also blue. Lamberth plays Christopher with subtly and nuances that strongly hint at psychosis. Terrific work here.
When Robert (Gerard Dedera in a fine turn) arrives for a second opinion, he takes the standard policy of discharging the patient since budget restraints and health care dictates out patient care and a return to the community. Robert rationalizes away Christopher’s symptoms. Bruce and Robert have a friendship and a mentor/protégé relationship that becomes strained over this case. Robert adds a racial element in that since Blacks seem to have more mental illness as part of their make up. He accuses Bruce of ethnocentric insensitivity and racial bias. The struggle between the two doctors changes each as Christopher becomes the pawn in their battle of wits, wills and egos. The debate about exactly what is mental illness and the effects of racial bias on the part of mental health workers is vigorously debated in this smart play.
The play is filled with dark humor and disturbing cruel government polices. We see how complicated it is to diagnose mental illness. After seeing this strongly acted play, you’ll be questioning the social dilemma about treating mental patients. Power, race, class and social policy are intermixed here in an emotionally dramatic turn. Penhall is an articulate wordsmith and fine storyteller. ART is another new theatre troupe to keep an eye on. They’ll almost convince you that oranges are blue. They will stimulate you with their intense drama.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2006
|
