Blue/Orange

The Olivier-winning drama returns

David Haig leads this revival of Joe Penhall's 2000 Olivier-winning drama that questions perception, race and mental illness, directed by Matthew Xia. When Christopher, an inpatient at a secure mental health facility faces being discharged, his insistence that oranges are blue in colour and that his father is a black Ugandan dictator fires up a battle of reason and funding between his doctor and a senior consultant.

His doctor is concerned about his patient's shaky grip on reality and is convinced that Christopher could benefit from sectioning. However, the clinical director is more concerned with money, and how much it will cost to keep Christopher in care, rather than living at home in Shepherd's Bush.

The original production starred Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejifor (interestingly, all three actors went on to star prominently in Richard Curtis' romantic drama Love Actually three years later), and garnered critical acclaim for its uncompromising look at mental health and public perception.

Now with both racism and mental illness dominating news headlines 16 years later, this play remains as relevant as ever.