StageWorks Staged Reading of

“Blue/Orange

By Joe Penhall

Directed by Melissa Gard, with Mimi Bell, Tate Gerndt, Jason Gresl, and Craig Kilgore

Place:    Acting Ensemble on the Avenue, 602 E Mishawaka Ave, Mishawaka IN 46545

One Performance: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm

The Story:  Christopher, a young black Londoner, has reached day 28 of his detention at a psychiatric hospital and wants to go home. His bags are packed. Problem is, he thinks oranges are blue and that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is his father. His doctor, Bruce, wants to keep him in, afraid that his delusions are pointing to a more serious, psychotic mental illness. But the senior consultant, Robert, believes that Christopher’s problems are ethnocentric, that he’ll be fine once he’s back with his “own community” in London. And besides, there aren’t enough beds.

Described as a dark comedy, the content of this play is very serious and reflects the reality of certain cultures and perceptions of life with clever fast-paced exchanges of comedy dialogue. In a story that becomes unnervingly plausible, “Blue/Orange” is an incendiary tale of race, madness and a Darwinian power struggle at the heart of a dying National Health Service. It offers a journey of the truth behind right and wrong, the question of sanity vs. cultural background, and the influence of power and ego.

Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

“…a ferocious comedy [with] brawny characters, not to mention a conflict that justifies some high-powered verbal brutality.” —The New York Times.

“I came out of Joe Penhall’s new play in a state of hot, black excitement: emotional, intellectual, moral excitement. How many plays can claim that much?” —The Times (London).

“Exuberant…Penhall has the gift of making serious points in a comic manner and of conveying moral indignation without preaching…Stinging satire.” —The Guardian (UK).