Blue/orange

by Joe Penhall

Published 13 April 2000
In a London psychiatric hospital, an enigmatic patient claims to be the son of an African dictator - a story that becomes unnervingly plausible. An incendiary tale of race, madness and a Darwinian power struggle at the heart of a dying National Health Service, Blue/Orange premiered at London's Cottesloe Theatre in April 2000 and transferred to the West End in 2001."Joe Penhall creates as riveting and compelling a new chamber play as we have seen since Michael Frayn's Copenhagen" - Daily Mail "Britain's best new play since Michael Frayn's Copenhagen...thrillingly original" - Financial Times "Funny and irreverent...Penhall's writing is vibrant throughout" - Independent on Sunday "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?" - Sunday Times "Exuberant...Penhall has the gift of making serious points in a comic manner and of conveying moral indignation without preaching...Stinging satire" - Guardian "Provocative, blackly funny...[and] taut with thought-provoking ambiguity" - Independent