The Colours

About the show

The play centres around the lives of four people with varying types of illness, and their interactions with those around them. It also focuses on the conversations with healthcare professionals, in particular those who work in palliative care. The actors on stage in this verbatim play, voice the actual transcripts of interviews held with patients and doctors in South Wales in two sites: Velindre Cancer Hospital in Cardiff and Ty Olwen Hospice in Swansea. The play opens on a South Wales beach. We meet Jill and Joe in their home in South Wales. Jill, 60, has had a cancer scare, but the lumps in her breast turned out to be benign; Joe's prostate cancer is inoperable. Jill is cheerful, still thinking of future days, fussing over her vinyl collection, while Joe is anxious, but also resigned to what lies ahead. The play engaged a gender-blind casting approach, and Ché Francis plays Jill, his eyes perfectly matching the mischief in the voice he hears in his ears, whilst Joe is played by Morfydd Clark, who communicates the fear of a 65-year-old man entering the very last days of his life. Erica, played by Claire-Marie Hall, is a single woman, cheerful to the last, regaling with stories of her past as a teacher. We also meet Ray, played by Mark Knightley, who is dying from motor neurone disease, but copes using gallows humour and candour. Joe, Erica and Ray meet and become friends at a hospice, which provides activities such as meditation, painting and Tai Chi. A clinician appears throughout the play, voiced by several of the actors and giving information about the diagnoses and on what palliative care can offer.