Spring Break
'Blue/Orange' deemed successful
The Free Play Theatre Cooperative's most recent offering skillfully portrayed the moral dilemma that consumes two psychiatrists and their patient.
by Sarah Bayer
Assistant Arts Editor
Arts | 4/8/08
Posted online at 12:15 AM EST on 4/8/08
|
The play opens in a flurry of "innits" and "buggers" as psychiatrist Bruce Flaherty (Samson Kohanski '08) futilely tries to soothe his patient Christopher's (Sheldon Best '08) frustration with having only a few hours left in a four-week psych ward stay. Dressed in sweatpants and a white tee, Best paced and chafed within Bruce's dully furnished office, physically asserting his character's anxiety and anger. Meanwhile, gray-sweatered Bruce remains uneasily conscious of his educational and social advantages over Christopher. Kohanski skillfully eluded the professorial cliché his character sometimes approaches by bringing a quiver of sensitive uncertainty to the most didactic lines. Over the course of the first lines, Best and Kohanski maintained momentum, rapidly shifted power dynamics and even managed to draw laughs.
The action takes place over two days, as Bruce and his supervisor, Robert Smith (Josh Mervis '08), debate the diagnosis and, by extension the fate, of Christopher. Bruce worries that their patient is schizophrenic, while Robert argues that his idiosyncrasies are attributable to his African descent. In the balance is whether Christopher will be released from the hospital or forced to undergo lengthy inpatient treatment. The play's success hinged on Best's understanding of Christopher's psychological state, a fact obscured by his flawless negotiation between benign and dangerous lunacy.
Mervis sometimes failed to distinguish between Robert's mad-scientist quirks and the intelligently wrought social attitudes that make him Bruce's worthy opponent. After the energetic opening discourse between Bruce and Christopher, his entrance brought a disorienting restraint to the play. Throughout the first act, Mervis punctuated his lines with hand-flutters, containing all his physical expression in his forearms as if expounding from behind an invisible podium. It wasn't until the second act required Robert to sit that he seemed fully comfortable wielding Robert's considerable professional leverage over Bruce.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Goodness Gracious
posted 4/08/08 @ 6:06 PM EST
Sarah, I don't think this is an appropriate way to vent your frustrations. Don't you think people can tell?
Jeremy
posted 4/09/08 @ 12:17 AM EST
Dear Ms. Bayer
After reading your review of Blue/Orange, and attending the performance on the same night as you, I just wanted to respond and perhaps offer a few different points of view. (Continued…)
I think you meant "objectivity"?
posted 4/10/08 @ 4:16 PM EST
I'll be honest, Jeremy, as someone who's no slouch for theatre criticism (having done it professionally), I don't really see this as a "personal vendetta. (Continued…)
Objectivity
posted 4/17/08 @ 2:03 AM EST
Don't you think it's somewhat of a significant point that the reviewer had a falling out with the actor and therefore her objectivity has long since passed?
It's also worth noting that just because you say you've review professionally, doesn't mean it's true, or for a paper that's actually read. (Continued…)
Jess P.
Jess P.
posted 4/18/08 @ 3:33 AM EST
I must start off by saying that having not seen this performance, I cannot attest as to the accuracy of this particular review.
That being said, I think that arguing over the quality of Justice theater reviews is a ridiculous and futile endeavor. (Continued…)
Post a Comment