{"id":225357,"date":"2025-10-19T20:47:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/225357\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T20:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:47:24","slug":"eastenders-star-branded-phenomenal-in-new-role-after-leaving-soap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/225357\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders star branded “phenomenal” in new role after leaving soap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three months on from his final appearance in EastEnders<\/a>, the actor behind the groundbreaking character Felix Baker has attracted critical acclaim for his latest project. Actor Matthew Morrison is currently starring in a new production of the play Blue\/Orange in London, and the reviews are glowing.<\/p>\n

Critics have been highly impressed by his performance as Christopher in the show, which is revival of Joe Penhall’s 2000 play at the Greenwich Theatre. He plays a patient (who claims to be the son of an African dictator) at a London psychiatric hospital who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but that’s disputed by psychiatrists. <\/p>\n

The Reviews Hub<\/a> stated he “beautifully portrays the ups and downs of having a psychological disorder, not knowing the difference between their own thoughts and their doctor’s”.<\/p>\n

What to Read Next<\/p>\n

LondonTheatre1<\/a> said “the casting is exquisite”, adding that “it is Morrison\u2019s superb performance that makes this production special”. They added: “Full of nuance, depth, and feeling, sadly, all too real \u2013 he brings Christopher to life on stage in a remarkable, three-dimensional way.”<\/p>\n

\"felix<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best film and TV tours for 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

All That Dazzles<\/a> said he “gives the strongest performance”; while View From The Gods<\/a> praised his “breathtaking display” and “phenomenal disassociation speeches”.<\/p>\n

They also hailed the whole show as an “absorbing, still utterly relevant dramatisation of the abuse we offer the abused.”<\/p>\n

South London<\/a> had similar praise, saying: “The direction by James Haddrell is expertly handled and the three actors, who work very well together to brilliantly bring their characters to life, bring out the pathos and the comedy of this tale, to the delight of the audience.”<\/p>\n

Related: EastEnders reveals Zoe Slater’s new bombshell in 48 spoiler pictures<\/a><\/p>\n

The play also stars Rhianne Barreto and John Michie, who have also seen the positive reviews roll in.<\/p>\n

A Young(ish) Perspective<\/a> praised Barreto for a performance that “impressively weaved between extreme emotional states”, while Everything Theatre<\/a> said Michie “[creates] a character that is easily one of the most compelling and captivating villains I\u2019ve seen on the London stage”.<\/p>\n

Morrison was on the BBC soap for almost exactly four years, with his final scenes airing in July. After his exit was announced in March<\/a>, he left Albert Square alongside Bernie Taylor<\/a>, played by Clair Norris.<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, Morrison made history as EastEnders’ first ever regular drag queen<\/a> character, with Felix’s alter ego being the ever-fierce Tara Misu. <\/p>\n

Blue\/Orange plays at the Greenwich Theatre until 25 October. Tickets are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.<\/p>\n

Read more EastEnders spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a>
<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends is here! Buy Gaga in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three months on from his final appearance in EastEnders, the actor behind the groundbreaking character Felix Baker has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,782,107867,784,75,783,107866,348],"class_list":["post-225357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-cc5ac869-1417-4955-bdc3-c15efcde60cc","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-star-branded-phenomenal-in-new-role","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}