16 Nov ‘Blue/Orange’ Challenges Gender Traits With All-Female Line Up | London Theatre Review
The slippery definitions of sanity are at the centre of Joe Penhall’s audacious play, Blue/Orange. The piece premiered at the National Theatre in 2000, with an all-male cast including British titans Chiwetel Ejiofor and Bill Nighy.
The production currently on at the Arcola Theatre, East London features an all-female line up, a device through which director Femi Elufowoju Jr. hopes to challenge the idea of certain traits being considered typically male or female.
The hitherto relatively harmonious working relationship of two psychiatrists, Dr Hilary (Helen Schlesinger) and her subordinate Dr Emily (Esther Hall aka the mum in the BT ad campaign) is thrown into disarray when they are confronted with the case of Juliet (Ayesha Antoine), a young woman of African origin who claims that oranges are blue and that she is the daughter of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada and a Congolese émigré.