Theater review by Raven Snook
Given how our discourse about identity has evolved in the past quarter-century, it's easy to see why director Will Davis was eager to remount Orlando, Sarah Ruhl's 1998 theatrical distillation of Virginia Woolf's jubilant 1928 novel about a genderfluid aristocrat. The intoxicating iconoclast Taylor Mac, who has been banishing binary thinking for years, plays the title character—an aspiring poet whose wild adventures in life and love span from the Elizabethan era to the present day, and include a spontaneous transition from male to female—and an all-queer chorus of six provides spirited support. On paper, it sounds joyous, but a few things get lost in the translation from page to stage.
Orlando | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
To be fair, the source material, a flowery and witty literary love letter to Woolf's longtime paramour Vita Sackville-West, resists adaptation, though many have tried: It’s been the inspiration for multiple previous plays and films, not to mention an opera and a ballet. Ruhl has chosen her favorite scenes carefully, and makes good use of Woolf's lush language. But the play's episodic nature is too much tell, not enough show. The supporting actors serve as a collective of narrators who also give broad interpretations of Orlando's many acquaintances, lovers and suitors; standouts include Nathan Lee Graham, who gets laughs just from cocking an eyebrow as a bitchy Queen Elizabeth, and Lisa Kron as a heavily accented noble. But people and periods come and go so quickly here; without knowledge of the source material, the story is challenging to follow. And aside from Oana Botez's clever costumes, which clearly delineate characters as well as epochs, the production has a minimalist aesthetic that muffles its over-the-top qualities. (Arnulfo Maldonado's set consists of four photography umbrellas with scattered backdrops and props.)
Even so, Mac's compelling transformation from dreamy male adolescent to wistful middle-aged woman is breathtaking to behold: It puts the expansiveness and mutability of life and identity on full, glorious display. Even when the plot gets lost, Mac's tour-de-fierce performance is reason enough to plan a visit to Orlando.
Orlando. Signature Theatre (Off Broadway). Written by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Will Davis. With Taylor Mac, Nathan Lee Graham, Lisa Kron. Running time: 1hr 40mins. One intermission.
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Orlando | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus