Writer: Joe Penhall
Director: James Haddrell
The oranges are blue is a recurring story throughout this play. The audience enters the theatre with a clean stage and very pristine props. The stage is set to appear like a psychiatrist’s office. Plain chairs, aggressive fluorescent lights, a water cooler, and a bowl of oranges resting on a coffee table. Everything is where it’s meant to be. By the end, orange peels cover the floor, and paper ripped into shreds creates a thin film between the actors and the ground. It’s utter chaos, but how did it get that far?
The play Blue/Orange, at the Greenwich Theatre, shows the tumultuous relationships between psychiatrists and their patients. The three-person play, celebrating its 25th anniversary, articulates the ethics behind psychiatry, specifically with emphasis on bias, misdiagnosis, and interpersonal relationships in a work space as rigorous as the medical profession.
Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall, and directed by James Haddrell, approaches the situation of Christopher, a young black man who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and who is about to be discharged from a 28-day psychiatric program. However, his psychiatrist is convinced that Chris has been misdiagnosed and intends to keep him for a “Section 3” rather than his current, “Section 2” in order to test him for paranoid schizophrenia.
Matthew Morrison, who plays Christopher, beautifully portrays the ups and downs of having a psychological disorder, not knowing the difference between their own thoughts and their doctors. One of the psychiatrists, played by Rhianne Barreto, is in training to be a consultant by her much older mentor, Dr Smith, played by John Michie. These three actors ably convey the relationships between doctors and their patients.
Haddrell has reimagined this play by changing Barrett’s role from the original, white man, to a young, South Asian woman. This brings a new level of gender politics in the office. She’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as it were, and has intense empathy for Christopher. The play covers her slow descent, and thus, the rise of her boss. There isn’t a character one is necessarily rooting for. The audience is hoping that everything will sort itself out, that there will be a clear good side and bad side, but the brilliance of this play is that it shows that psychiatry is an ethical grey area.
The dialogue of the two doctors isn’t quite so ‘preachy’ as many other shows describing medical professionals. The language is modern and hits the audience in the face. The dialogue is so important because the show comes full circle.
Runs until 25 October 2025
