Reviews 2003
Reviews 2003
✭✭✭✭✭
written by Joe Penhall, directed by Chris Abraham
Canadian Stage, Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs, Toronto
September 22-November 1, 2003
CanStage opens its new season with a winner, the Canadian premiere of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange (2000). It is a brilliant play impeccably performed.
We watch two psychiatrists examine an Afro-Caribbean patient on the final day of his month-long stay in hospital after causing a public disturbance. Bruce (Darren Keay), a doctor in training, thinks the patient Chris (Kevin Hanchard), who claims to be dictator Idi Amin's son, is not merely on the border between neurotic and psychotic as first diagnosed but needs another month in hospital to determine if he is schizophrenic. Bruce's supervisor Robert (R.H. Thomson) is concerned only with procedure--the mandatory assessment is complete, there are no more beds, Chris should be released.
On one level the play is a biting critique of the inadequacies of mental heath care and of institutional racism. Chris's feelings of persecution are not all delusions. On another level the play chillingly shows "truth" to be a function of power. Each man plays mental games with the others to have his own view recognized as "the truth." Only one has the power to make it so.
Director Chris Abraham keeps the focus clear and the pacing taut. Hanchard's hyperactive patient is a man caged on the edge of an abyss trying to hide his fear of "freedom." Thomson's doctor shows a casual, witty disdain that cloaks a far uglier personality than we first imagine. Keay's intern visibly suffers as idealism clashes with professional goals. The actors' thrilling interplay will wrench both mind and emotions. A must see.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2003-10-02.
Photo: R.H. Thomson, Darren Keay and Keven Hanchard. ©2003 Canadian Stage.
2003-10-02
Blue/Orange