Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall at OSO Arts Centre 7 – 10 May 2026
‘an immensely interesting night in the theatre’ ★★★
Blue /Orange is an interesting multi-layered three hander about mental illness, race and psychiatry by Joe Penhall which was first performed at the National Theatre in 2000. It manages to be both funny and subtle, firmly rejecting the idea that there are right or wrong answers to the difficult questions about mental illness that it raises.
For this new production in the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes, director Lydia Sax (also the OSO artistic director) has gone for stark simplicity of presentation. She has configured the compact and flexible OSO space in the round, or rather the square, with the audience in blocks on four sides around the actors.
This requires (and gets) constant attention to detail from the director, so that no section of the audience sees too much of the backs of the actors. It means that the show can be performed with no set and the absolute minimum of furniture – two chairs and a coffee table.
She has assembled a strong cast. For me, the standout is Andre Bullock as the black mental patient whom the two doctors fight over. Bullock is pitch perfect: never still, never at peace, never quite happy, he leaves us – as he should – unsure whether we have been watching a seriously ill mental patient, or a highly intelligent if neurotic man, probably with ADHD, who lives on his nerves and fears boredom more than anything.
Ciaran Corsar offers us an ambitious, cynical senior consultant, leaving us unsure – again, as he should – whether he is the hero or the villain of the play. Muireann Gallen starts out well as the junior doctor, annoyingly buttoned-down and struggling to keep her language on the right side of correctness – one of the funniest moments of the play is when she torments herself for using the word “crazy.”
Her performance unravels a little in the second half, but I suspect the fault is more the writer’s than hers. She takes refuge in an overwrought tearfulness that is not altogether convincing, but by then the script has left her little choice, because the character doesn’t quite work. The contradictions are too glaring, and the character would not last five minutes in psychiatry.
This is an immensely interesting night in the theatre. If the script is perhaps a little wordy, the accomplished cast paper over the longueurs most effectively. And if in the end you do not quite believe it, you have at least seen the issues raised with care and clarity. You do not quite know who was the protagonist, who was right and who was wrong, which serves to remind us that these things are never simple.
Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall at OSO Arts Centre 7 – 10 May 2026
BOX OFFICE https://osoarts.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173669566
Cast
Christopher - Andre Bullock
Dr Smith - Ciaran Corsar
Dr Flaherty - Muireann Gallen
Creatives & Production Team
Director - Lydia Sax
Producer- Jamie Rycroft
Set & Costume Designer - Raphae Memon
Lighting, Sound Designer and Composer - Gabriel Burns
Assistant Director & Production Assistant - Charlotte D'Angelo
Stage Manager - Grace Wharton
Set Builder - Peter Cuss
Creative Team Assistant - Ella Strauss
Photo Credits: Kinga Dulka
