Blue/Orange, Theatre 180 ·
Burt Memorial Hall, Wednesday 24 August 2022 ·

Premiering in London back in 2000, Joe Penhall’s play Blue/Orange takes a heavy look at the racism embedded within the National Health Service in Britain at that time.

Two decades later and on the other side of the planet, Theatre 180’s production reveals that the play is still a timely reminder about the devastation wrought by systemic racism, at home as well as abroad.

A patient, Christopher, is about to be released after 28 days in psychiatric facility. Trainee psychiatrist Bruce thinks that the patient has been misdiagnosed and urges that he be detained, while the consultant, Robert, believes in pushing him out of the nest to rehabilitate in “his community.” Christopher’s own feelings waver throughout. The differences of opinion escalate with ferocity over two and a half hours.

Director (and Theatre 180 Artistic Director) Stuart Halusz has pulled together a tight production.

Blue/Orange is performed in the round at Burt Memorial Hall, on a purpose-built stage; stark and clinical. With a highly visible audience on all sides, it feels as if we are staring into a one-way-mirror, creating a weighty feeling of surveillance.

Designed by Neil Sheriff, the set also brings to mind a boxing ring, an image reinforced by the actors’ cyclical movement throughout. It’s fitting for the second act, in which many verbal punches are thrown.

Though the fluorescent lighting above the stage and spotlight in the corner do well to recreate the harsh, hospital environment, the effect is hard on the audience. In my corner and directly opposite, our view was frequently so obscured by the shining light that I had to watch the performers from the waist down. Others closed their eyes.

Fortunately, the performances were strong. Jarryd Dobson, as the young doctor Bruce, was full of ambition and romance about his profession. He bubbled with both eagerness to please and self-righteousness. Though unsettled with the dialogue, Andrew Lewis, as Robert, retained an authority that was essential to his character. Both Lewis and Dobson moved about the stage with ease.

But the star of the show is WAAPA student Tinashe Mangwana, his panic palpable as Christopher. Mangwana performed with a physicality that danced with volatility and subtly drew power, as power shifted through the room.

Blue/Orange manipulates the audience, questioning which of the doctors is morally right, who has the patient and community’s interests at heart and who just thinks they do. Turns out both these men embody the racism implicit in their profession in different ways. Both claim to be altruistic but they are either self-serving or naive. Each is deeply unlikeable.

I’ll admit, I found Blue/Orange overly verbose, its repetition exhausting. And the way the medical professionals behave – both with their patient and one another – feels so implausible that it lessens the impact. Blue/Orange is preoccupied with spoon-feeding its message at the cost of audience engagement.

But that’s me. Where Blue/Orange left some of us fatigued, others lapped it up.

A polarising production offering plenty to chew over.

Blue/Orange continues at Burt Memorial Hall until 3 September 2022.