Rot und Grün ist eine pointierte Kritik an staatlich organisierter Hilfe und Saalbachs politischstes Stück.
Eine Gruppe europäischer Entwicklungshelfer in einem vom Bürgerkrieg zerrissenen Dritte-Welt-Land, einem Land wie Nepal. Eine Person hat Heimweh, einer anderen ist der Bezug zu sich selbst vor langer Zeit abhandengekommen, wieder andere straucheln, haben ihren Sinn für Beständigkeit verloren. Promiskuität grassiert, und während private und professionelle Limits ausgetestet werden, bleibt nichts unversucht, die Tatsache zu verschleiern, dass ihre Arbeit mehr schadet als nützt. Macht und Machtlosigkeit werden wie durch ein Kaleidoskop betrachtet.
“Red and Green have traces of a Strindberg chamber play, a contemporary Ghost Sonata with complex and bickering characters.” (Nummer.se)
“Surprises at regular intervals, and Saalbach neatly joins the first and the last scene.” (L. Ring, Svenska Dagbladet)
“The words of Sofi Helleday miss the mark each time with wonderful precision … One is embarrassed by each new Caucasian arrogance, as if it were your own. If you laugh – and you will after all – you will feel the laughter sticking in your throat. Because what you are served is the bitter truth.” (Ingegärd Waaranperä, Dagens Nyheter)
“Saalbach’s words always sting either one’s dreams or one’s conscience. As a spectator to her plays, you are being mirrored so wryly and shrilly that you cannot avoid realizing the reflection is partly true … Practically every perversion is displayed with a grotesque humour in a story that goes topsy turvey.” (Anne Middelboe Christensen, Information)
“A comedy about the white colonial master and his wife, who heartily confuses one guest with another, and death with a party. In any case, this is a superb display of human destruction.” (Per Theil, Politiken)
“Dramaturgically, Saalbach has put the concluding scene first and allowed the other scenes to be played non-linearly, leaving the puzzle unsolved until the last minute. Crafty work. And her art of writing lines – characters speaking almost without employing subjects – contributes to an amputated, threatening rhythm in the dialogues, causing them cleverly to remove themselves from realism.” (Jacob Steen Olsen, Berlingske Tidende)