On Stage: Lunatics run the asylum

One of the most inspiring new actors, the fresh-faced Marty Kintu, makes his debut at the Baxter. He has presence; his energy is a volatile mixture of Eros and animus.

In the psychological thriller Blue/Orange, by British writer Joe Penhall and directed locally by Clare Stopford, Kintu plays a young black man, Christopher. He is in a sanatorium, somewhere in London, but it could be Cape Town.

As it goes, his colour, his accent, his class count against him. In addition, the young Christopher is also disturbed, angry, confused, and wrongly diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a diagnosis that psychiatrists throw around nowadays. It is, inter alia, a condition where you are on the border between neurosis and psychosis.

The young registrar psychiatrist, Bruce (Nicholas Pauling), realises his patient might suffer from something far more serious - schizophrenia: He thinks oranges are blue, and that he's the offspring of Idi Amin.

Even a layman can tell you that there just might be something rotten in the state of Denmark, but not Bruce's mentor, Robert (Andrew Buckland). He is a slimeball, an ingratiating runt who is a closet racist.

He has other plans; he wants Christopher out, back on the streets.

For a schizophrenic, this is a tragedy that often ends in suicide. But Robert is obsessed with budgets - one patient fewer will save money, and he will save face with his superiors. Hubris, banal careerism, one-upmanship; the whole toxic mix turns into riveting theatre.

All three actors deliver authentic, first-rate performances and the set is clinical, slick, flawlessly designed by Patrick Curtis.

Dominic Cavendish, critic of The Telegraph, wrote: "I've seen Joe Penhall's play four times since it premiered at the National, and each time I marvel at it. The issues it wrestles with are so essential and intractable that it gives your mind a health-giving workout at every viewing."

• Until March 14. Book at www.baxter.co.za