ORLANDO

ADAPTED BY SARAH RUHL FROM THE NOVEL BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando is a witty, magical and poetic dance between gender and through time, a fantastical world in which courtly movement and biographical narration combine to tell the story of a being who lives outside of human expectations, and enjoys twice the experience that humanity has to offer. The play spans almost 400 years in the lifetime of its protagonist and this production at the Battersea Arts Centre was its UK premiere.

In the script, Orlando's story is expressed by a group of nameless storytellers, but feeling the production would benefit from a sense of purpose to their storytelling, I encouraged the acting company to research the Bloomsbury set and to create a company of characters inspired by its real-life members. The production was staged within the BAC's tremendously atmospheric Grand Hall (pre-fire), enabling our fictional Bloomsbury set to welcome audiences into Knowle House, the emotional centre of the novel and where much of the play's action  takes place. For a lengthy scene which involves Orlando falling in love whilst skating on a frozen Thames during the Great Frost of 1683, members of the cast rollerskated across the beautiful polished floor of the Grand Hall - although sadly no photographs of this theatrical treat survive! 

VENUE: Battersea Arts Centre, London; East 15 Acting School's MA Acting (International)