Orlando
This
one-woman show by Cryptic Theatre is an adaptation of the 1928 novel
of the same name by Virginia Woolf, which tells the story of a young
man born in the 16th century who decides that he will
never grow old. Orlando becomes a favourite of Elizabeth I, enjoys a
torid affair with a Russian princess, lives in Constantinople as an
ambassador, wakes up as a woman after a long illness, returns to
England and eventually marries.
The
company opts for a strongly technical approach that includes the use
of innovative real-time tracking and projection, and a score full of
loops and samples. This technology is in striking contrast to the
play’s historical material, but there are very few moments at which this
gamble doesn’t pay off, the music and projection adding vibrancy to
Judith Williams’s one-woman performance.
Darryl
Pinckney’s adaptation captures Woolf’s tone and provides Orlando with
some wonderfully poetic speeches, but the writer fails to shape the
novel’s extraordinary plot into a dramatically comprehensible format,
making this is a baffling piece of work to watch. Williams
gives an undeniably fine performance in the title role and there are
some striking moments of theatre in this production, but with too
much time spent creating atmosphere and too little time spent on
storytelling, Orlando feels like an opportunity
lost.
