Blue/Orange:Good/Great

    Watching Blue/Orange, was one of the most interesting play watching experiences that I have had in London.  Besides knowing that it was a play chosen by Dr. Quarmby, which usually is a good thing (the exception being Hamlet), I did not have any knowledge about the play.  After watching for five minutes, and realizing that the entirety of this play took place in a psychiatrists office spiked my interest.  I thought this story line was unique and had the potential to be a fringe play that I would really enjoy.  However, there has not been a play that I have seen in London that I’ve had more mixed feelings about than Blue/Orange. My fondness for the venue and enjoyment of actor’s performance is met equally by confusion towards the actual meaning of the production. 
    Watching a play in traverse style seating, which felt a lot like being a “fly on the wall,” was very different experience, but in a refreshing way.  I thought it would be frustrating that the actor’s faces would not always be facing my side of the stage.  I soon found out that it would have greatly taken away from the performance, if this were the case.  The use of different corners and sides of the stage is what really made the performance; it made the actor’s interaction with the space much more believable and natural. 
          I think Blue/Orange, was also the first play in which I loved all of the actors performance.  The two psychiatrists went back and forth for some very memorable exchanges and I have never believed a person to be more mentally unstable than in the case of the Juliet character.  Emily’s emotional break down was a little unbelievable at the end of the play, but overall her performance was very engaging and dramatic.  With all of these things being said, I felt that Helen Schlesinger (Hilary) gave the strongest performance by far.  Her character, at face value, would be very easy to hate, but for some reason I was on her side the entire play.  Her cynicism, and dark humor were amazing and I honestly thought she was hilarious, though at times the audience was reluctant to give a lot of laughter. 
    My only problem with Blue/Orange was the fact that I did not really understand the message being conveyed.  Through the entire play, I was having an internal back and forth trying to figure out, which psychiatrist was more accurate and whether or not Juliet was actually schizophrenic.  In the end, it left the audience with every one appearing unstable and unfit to be in the world.  Maybe, that was the message, “Every one is crazy.”  I know, or hope, that the writer of this play had a more important message than that.  I knew racial relations were on display, and the politics of psychiatry , in addition to a host of other social issues.  The play failed to pick one of these issues and really make a firm statement about it though, something that I felt really detracted from the overall success of the play and it kept it from being a play that I would consider undeniably great.

-Christopher Mahoney