A new staging of the multi award-winning drama Blue/Orange is set to open at Bath’s Ustinov Studio appearing from Friday 29th October to Saturday 13th November, starring Giles Terera (winner of the Olivier Award for Hamilton) as Robert, Michael Balogun (Death Of England, National Theatre) as Christopher and Ralph Davis (The Open House, Bath’s Ustinov Studio) as Bruce. Directed by James Dacre and produced by Royal & Derngate Northampton, Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Oxford Playhouse, Blue/Orange will tour to Oxford and Northampton after opening in Bath.
Blue/Orange won the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Play in 2001. Twenty years after Joe Penhall’s (Mindhunter, The Road) ground-breaking play premiered, he collaborates with co-creators Giles Terera, Michael Balogun, Ralph Davis and director James Dacre on a brand new production shining new light upon this incendiary interrogation of power and privilege in modern Britain.
In a London psychiatric hospital, a mysterious patient wants out. The problem is that, to him, oranges are bright blue and Muhammed Ali is a whole lot more than just a boxer. As his doctor and senior consultant debate whether to section or release him, an extraordinary new claim causes them to become more and more divided in their diagnosis. Their power struggle escalates into a startling and provocative exploration of power and privilege, revealing uncomfortable truths about all three men.
Giles Terera said: “I vividly remember how fired up and moved I was watching Joe Penhall’s extraordinary play when it premiered. I believe the play can speak to us just as much, if not more so, now as it did then. Getting to explore its themes of identity, mental health, race and a power struggle at the heart of the NHS is something I’m very excited about.”
Giles Terera’s numerous theatre credits in the West End include Hamilton, for which he won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical; as well as The Book of Mormon, Rosmersholm, Avenue Q, The Rat Pack, The Tempest, 125th Street, Jailhouse Rock, and Rent. He also performed in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world tour of The Tempest; Up on the Roof at Chichester Festival Theatre; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar Warehouse; The Merchant of Venice on international tour; King John on UK tour for Shakespeare’s Globe; and in numerous productions at the National Theatre, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Honk! and Hamlet. His screen work includes E4’s Maxxx; Horrible Histories, BBC’s Doctors and the films The Current War and London Boulevard.
Michael Balogun’s stage credits include the title role in Death of England: Delroy at the National Theatre; Henry VI Part 1 for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre; The Dark and Barbershop Chronicles on UK tour for Fuel Theatre, including at Bristol Old Vic; and Headlong’s production of People, Places, Things which visited the Theatre Royal Bath in 2017 as part of a UK tour. His television credits include ITV’s Vera; the Netflix series You Don’t Know Me and Top Boy; War of the Worlds for Canal+ and Fox Network and BBC’s Casualty. His radio credits include The Meaning of Zong with Bristol Old Vic for BBC Radio 3.
Ralph Davis’s theatre work includes King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe; Tamburlaine, Timon of Athens, King John and Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company; The Open House at Bath’s Ustinov Studio in 2017 and The Print Room, London; The Deep Blue Sea at Chichester Festival Theatre and Valued Friends at Rose Theatre Kingston. His television credits include BBC’s Small Axe and Father Brown and Anatomy of a Scandal for Netflix.
Director James Dacre is Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, Northampton. His numerous credits include the Olivier Award nominated Our Lady of Kibeho, which transferred to Theatre Royal Stratford East; The Herbal Bed with English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston, winner of the UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production, which played the Theatre Royal Bath in 2016; King John for Shakespeare’s Globe and Salisbury International Festival; King James Bible at the National Theatre; A Tale of Two Cities on UK tour; 4000 Miles at Bath’s Ustinov Studio in 2013; and The Mountaintop in the West End, winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play. James has directed and developed new work by numerous authors. He is a Board Director of Spirit of 2012, a Trustee for Talawa Theatre Company and a Franco-British Young Leader. He was previously Associate at the New Vic Theatre, Theatre503 and National Youth Theatre.
Alongside director James Dacre, the creative team for Blue/Orange includes Francesca Murray-Fuentes as Associate Director, Simon Kenny as Designer, Tony Gayle as Sound Designer, Valgeir Sigurðsson as composer, Hazel Holder and Ellie Manners as Voice and Dialect Coach.
Joe Penhall has won numerous awards for his writing. His play Blue/Orange was first seen at the National Theatre in 2000 starring Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It transferred to the West End, winning the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Play, before Joe adapted it for television. The author of twelve stage productions, his first major play Some Voices premiered at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs in 1994, winning the John Whiting Award before playing off-Broadway twice. In 2000, he adapted Some Voices into a film starring Daniel Craig and Kelly Macdonald. In 1995 his second play, Pale Horse, premiered at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, starring Ray Winstone, who previously performed in Some Voices. In 2004, Joe adapted Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love into a film starring Rhys Ifans and Daniel Craig. In the same year he wrote the screenplay for the BAFTA nominated BBC2 drama The Long Firm starring Mark Strong. In 2009 he adapted Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road into a film starring Viggo Mortensen and was named by Variety Magazine as one of their Top Ten Screenwriters to watch. His first stage musical Sunny Afternoon, with music and lyrics by The Kinks’ Ray Davies, transferred to the West End winning four Olivier Awards in 2015, including Best New Musical. In 2017 Joe Penhall created the Netflix series Mindhunter.
Blue/Orange appears in the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath from Friday 29th October to Saturday 13th November. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk
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