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October 15th, 2008
01:56 pm - Blue/Orange
I saw an interesting drama on BBC4 last night called Blue/Orange (first shown 2005). It's a three-handed theatre piece starring John Simm and Brian Cox as rival doctors in a psychiatric institution and Shaun Parkes as their patient, a possibly schizophrenic black man. As you can see - bloody outstanding casting.
I am generally quite critical of modern theatre: middle class, patronising, inauthentic, embarrassed. This one touched on race, insanity and philosophy, subjects where middle class self-congratulation is shrillest and most annoying. But it didn't annoy me, perhaps because almost everything that was said was ambiguous.
The writer Joe Penhall also wrote the scripts for Enduring Love and The Long Firm, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road which is due for release soon.
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Damn, I didn't notice it was on. I tend not to get to the television until around midnight. I remember the play was Chiwetel Ejiofor's big break in the theatre. I can just imagine it would be. I missed the first ten minutes or so, just stumbled on it. Who played the doctors on stage do you know? Cox and Simm were the bee's knees. Bill Nighy and Andrew Lincoln. Ah. I know people might not agree but I think Brian Cox is better than Bill Nighy. I think they're both very good, but I have a weakness for Cox. I was looking at a still of him in his I Zingari waistcoat in Deadwood yesterday, and wishing I could think of an icon to make of it. I do like Andrew Lincoln a lot, but John Simm... nah, never took to the guy :-)
Edited at 2008-10-15 02:54 pm (UTC) I can't believe they made a movie of "The Road"! I read it; I kept wanting to stop reading because I knew there was no nice ending. Then I read that Viggo Mortensen starred in it! It is the grimmest of apocalyptic things I have ever read - and I've read a lot. On the other hand, I heard that the Blue/Orange piece was terrific...my favorite, John Simm again showing his versatility. I haven't read it because I'm scared of the emotion. I read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and it really made me upset, though it's a truly great book. Just as you say 'I wanted to stop reading'. But I will go and see the film without any doubt. I used to live at the beach. One beautiful morningI took a long walk; there was not a soul in sight; the ocean was calm; no wind; sun shining. It was devine. Later in the day I learned there had been a tidal wave alertand the beaches were supposed to have been cleared of people. I would prefer not to know too much about the oncoming tidal wave. |
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