From March 26 to March 29 in the Edward Simonsen Indoor Theater, the play “Orlando” by Sarah Ruhl was performed. The play was adapted from the Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography.  

Both the play and novel, tell the story of Orlando who lives for over 3 centuries. During this time, they mysteriously transformed from a nobleman to a noblewoman. Orlando also explores not only gender and time, but the shifts of social status and history. The play starts from the 16th century with Orlando being apart of Queen Elizabeth 1’s court, with the play ending around the 1920s.  

When watching the play, the audience sees two Orlando’s. One who is Orlando of the Past (Reece Olinger) and another who is Orlando of the Present (Kaine Brockenbrough). Both Orlando’s encounter Sasha/Marmaduke (Alex Young) who is their love interest throughout the play and Queen Elizabeth (Alex Mackenzie).  

Each actor really inhabited their character very well, especially when it came to the comedic moments. A memorable moment was when Queen Elizabeth was struggling to give her ring to Orlando towards the beginning of the play. Apart from the comedy, there was a sad moment towards the end with the two Orlandos holding and accepting each other.  

Even with this great acting, each actor’s costumes were so beautiful to look at when they were up on stage. Queen Elizabeth’s first costume for her entrance was my favorite out of all the costumes I saw on stage. I loved how historically accurate the costume was to the real Queen Elizabeth.  

Overall, the play was very entertaining to watch. I didn’t have much expectations or general knowledge when going into the play; however, I felt like that made me enjoy the performance more. Along with allowing me to do some outside research after the play to understand the novel. BC’s theater will be performing the show “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” from April 30 to May 2.