Struggling for control themes Joe Penhall's indictment of Britain's mental health system (arguably not exclusive to the U.K.) and two of its representative doctors. Their patient, Christopher (Will Little), is a young black from, but not part of, the outer London community of Shepherd's Bush. His belief that oranges on the table of a consulting room are blue is characteristic of his delusional state.
Christopher is about to max out the time allotted for his hospital stay. Just as he has inhabited two worlds (mental vs. real), so his doctors come from two different professional orientations.
Bruce (Dane Dandridge Clark), first shown calming drug-seeking Christopher, wants to extend his need-for-care status but must have superior consultant Robert's okay. Bruce has been courting his approval for his own promotion, but Robert (Kenneth Stellingwerf) seems bent on the release -- perhaps to free a bed, maybe to further his private research for a career advancing publication.
It's exhausting yet exciting to follow the doctors' arguments over diagnosis. Idealistic Bruce has hoped to work within the system but must plainly speak his mind (as Clark shows and does so well that he wins much sympathy). If Christopher's on a borderline between psychotic and neurotic, he's tipping toward schizophrenia. Bruce believes release, undoing whatever effective treatment Christopher has received, will permanently damage him.
Power-hungry Robert (exhibited in the fullness of his considerable ego by Stellingwerf) has in mind a racial psychotic condition. He constantly displays racial attitudes, treats Christopher with condescension, and uses poetry, intellectual theories and social observations in his "consultation." He is the more covertly ambitious but also more self-serving doctor.
Christopher (Little, powerfully alternating between confused and explosive) so convincingly tells of being the son of Idi Amin that anyone hearing him speak for the first time might be prone to at least a smidgeon of belief. His anger might be a bit explained by the doctors' tendency not to treat him as an adult, by their absenting him from discussion of his condition. Yet mostly his ire requires little provocation. What he wants to do and for others to do for him keeps changing.
A final pre-release interview leaves all three men torn. Although author Penhall doesn't effect a complete resolution for any of them, the falling action is absorbing. Owing to Barbara Redmond's directorial emphasis on the interactive struggles and each character's electric individuality, the production satisfies.
Rick Cannon's no-nonsense room with light, when appropriate, focused on a central bowl of oranges is a just right setting. So are Jonathan Shimon's stark sounds.
Costumer Amy Cianci distinguishes working doctor Bruce in uniform from consultant Robert in suit with huge badge and both from casually but neatly clothed Christopher.
Praise to Dane, Stellingwerf, and Little for their well sustained accents which seem authentic and are distinctive to each. Thanks to stylist Michelle Hart, Stellingwerf's trim hair and beard help establish Robert's attention to appearance, contrasting with younger Bruce's obvious lack of similar concern.
Barbara Redmond, who heads acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, deserves praise for more than directing here. Her students turn in top-grade work, enhancing Penhall's.
