'Blue Heart' Orange Tree Theatre ****

It is comprehensively safe to say that some playwrights have an odd and peculiar way in how their plays are displayed due to such themes with regards to social and political contexts to an audience of varied ages. The Orange Tree Theatre’s revival production of Caryl Churchill’s 1997 play, ‘Blue Heart’ which combines two one act plays, ‘Heart’s Desire’ and ‘Blue Kettle’ was an intriguing and positively bizarre show, in addition to this, the interpretations were pleasantly acted.

‘Blue Heart’s first act, ‘Heart’s Desire’ is set in the kitchen of a family house who are awaiting the return of their daughter, Susy (Mona Goodwin) who has been travelling across Australia. Over the course of this section of the play, father Brian (Andy de la Tour), mother, Alice (Amanda Brown) and aunt Maise (Amanda Boxer) go through the same scene over and over again, however, as the same moment is repeated, some increasingly strange things occur such as a giant emu costume with someone inside of it. In addition to this, Susy’s brother, Lewis (Alex Beckett) appears to the family disappointment and this is due to the fact that he is a compulsive alcoholic and is dressed only in just a pair of Y Front tiny pants which suggests that there is a rivalry between the two siblings as Lewis perceives that Susy is their parents’ favourite child. In a rather interesting trail of events, Susy is only ever present at the end of the first act which only suggests that the repetition of the same scene but with extra moments added as the most poignant part of this story. ‘Blue Heart’s second act, ‘Blue Kettle’ takes on a completely different path where fraudulent man, Derek (Alex Beckett) cons a mammoth amount of women in which he tries to convince them that he is their long-lost son, in order to obtain all their money. Throughout this section, the women that Derek is lying to, Mrs Plant (Amanda Boxer), Mrs Oliver (Amanda Brown), Mrs Vane (Janet Henfrey) and Mrs Clarence (Mourousia Frank) are lead to believe that they are in fact Derek’s mother and we all know that this is a long list of lies and deception. Derek’s Mother (Gillian Axtell) is unaware of her son’s illegal activity, nonetheless, Derek’s girlfriend, Enid (Mona Goodwin) knows of Derek’s role as a con artist and is appalled and declares that she and Derek are over and at the finale of the entire show, Derek is left all alone and in my viewpoint, he deserves not the have an easy time as conning elderly people is vile and immoral as you should respect your elders. Churchill’s narrative is riveting as both of the short plays have an array of atypical moments are momentous and to be truthful I kind of knew what I was expecting with the likes of her previous work i.e. ‘Love and Information’ which means that Churchill’s work does not go through a linear route.

One found the performances by the company of, ‘Blue Heart’ to be eminently portrayed as the two roles that most actors depict encapsulated the versatility of Churchill’s play  and there were a lot of funny bits especially in ‘Heart’s Desire’. Alex Beckett is brilliant as both Lewis and Derek; mainly as Derek in ‘Blue Kettle’ and how realistic he comes across as a dastardly villain who thinks it is good to manipulate older women and for him to thieve their hard earned money and there is an intensity that resonates in both the physical and vocal aspects of the character.  Mona Goodwin is great as both Susy and Enid; predominantly how even though Susy is not that visibly present in ‘Heart’s Desire’ we can see that she is warming and overjoyed to be reunited with her family and in ‘Blue Kettle’ we see the difference in Enid and this is exactly what true drama training is all about.

David Mercatali’s direction is swell here as he has been able to present a rather thought-provoking take on Churchill’s play and this has been captured with such splendour as both of the short plays have both been given the same amount of time to give the revival a fitting chance and I liked the characterisations too. Angela Davies’ design is pretty cool as we are transported to both locations and the transformations which has been seamlessly and flawlessly aides by the stage management team and the lighting by Chris Swain and sound by Max Pappenheim was of a terrific level of finish and they portrayed the themes and the flow of the story which is what design is supposed to achieve anyway. Overall, the experience of, ‘Blue Heart’ to be a inexplicably compelling show that connects two short plays in one way or another and yet again, the Orange Tree Theatre has produced another excellent production.