REVIEW BY RICK PENDER

Photo By Sandy Underwood

(L-r) Jeff Groh, Demond Robinson and Bruce Cromer star in ETC's Blue/Orange.

You might think the diagnosis of a mentally ill patient would be a tedious topic for a stage drama. But you'd be wrong in the case of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, the current production at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. In fact, this show makes the contentious debate between two British psychiatrists into something like a match between rugby players or professional wrestlers, featuring violent - although metaphorical - body blows and vicious mind games.

Their subject is Christopher (Demond Robinson), a young black man who has been held in a London psychiatric hospital after his arrest for inappropriate public behavior. An apprentice counselor, Bruce (Jeff Groh), has been treating him for a month: The play's crisis comes because Christopher has been a patient for 28 days: Britain's Mental Health Act requires that assessment cannot extend beyond that period unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Bruce has advanced a diagnosis which recommends against Christopher's release; his supervisor, Robert (Bruce Cromer), disagrees and wants the young man to be discharged. As they argue, it becomes clear that, while healthcare is the landscape of their dispute, their argument is a more fundamental one about the disagreeable human need for dominance. The patient becomes a football whose presence is as much a catalyst as a character.

Groh and Cromer bring the psychiatrists to life with vivid energy - almost too much so. Their arguments are dense and wordy, and the pace set by director Michael Evan Haney for the three-act play (running about two-and-a-half hours) challenges audiences to keep up. The actors' mental and verbal gymnastics reflect the ebb and flow of their relative positions, but the constant level of strain is likely to make some in the audience question whether it's worth trying the effort. (A portion of the audience departed during the two intermissions on opening night.)

The three actors are well-suited for their roles. Groh has a tightly wound naÔvetÈ, underscored by a quick mind that's not yet skilled in the politics of organizational behavior. Cromer is his opposite number, all polish and finesse, full of glib insights and patronizing positioning. But both men have further agendas that make the acting challenge especially intriguing. Robinson offers a perfect focal point between the two: He's charming in his hyperkinetic charm, but he slips easily into surly, aloof behavior. By the third act, it's less and less clear whether he's an entirely innocent victim, or has begun to see that he has some power to be exercised in the dynamic we're watching.

Designer Brian c. Mehring's starkly institutional hospital interview room and his aggressive lighting concept add to Blue/Orange's impact: Two fiercely intersecting walls (perhaps representing the debate raging between the doctors) are broken only by a row of three narrow, horizontal windows with frosted glass. Between acts, lights gradually evolve the color of the glass. For the first and third acts, the pale green room is awash in almost glaring light which, like the action, ebbs and flows. In Act 2, when Robert seeks to steer a conversation with Christopher to his own advantage, it's a world of shadows. The show is staged with a palette of blacks, whites and grays, except for a bowl of vivid oranges on a table.

Those oranges represent the crux of the argument: What's beneath the skin when it's peeled away? Is what you perceive the reality of what's there? One might quibble over the demeanor of the psychiatrists, which is more about demonstrating their own base natures than providing an insightful analysis of a patient, but it seems to me that Blue/Orange is ultimately an exploration of human interaction. I'm less certain what we are meant to take away from the violent - and seemingly unresolved - conflict, but it is surely fascinating to watch. Grade: B

E-mail Rick Pender

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