Walking out of the Corpus playroom after watching the opening night of Orlando, the main thought in my mind was: “Well, that was fun!” I mean this as an unequivocal compliment. Creating theatre that is genuinely fun to watch is not a small feat, and nor is it an unimportant one. With its raucous energy, outstanding comic performances, spectacular costumes, and break-neck pace, Orlando is just this. Based on Virginia Woolf ’s novel for and about her lover, the enigmatic Vita Sackville-West, it tells the story of Orlando, who is born a man in the Elizabethan era but lives for hundred years. Along the way, they undergo a mysterious change of sex, and navigate love, loss and self-discovery. Eva Sharkey’s production is a colourful, flamboyant, whimsical celebration of queerness.

“Joking about things does not make them less serious or important”

This is not to say that the sense of fun in this production detracts from the seriousness of the subject matter. Orlando experiences the difficulties of existing as a gender non-conforming person, and, in becoming a woman after being a man, realises the full brunt of sexism and misogyny. However, the production deals with these subjects with an endearing lightness of touch. Annie Rainbow’s Mrs G, the constant attendant and companion of Orlando, cracks a joke about him being more into Arthur than Martha and the audience erupts into laughter. There is a wonderfully irreverent atmosphere on stage that insists that joking about things does not make them less serious or important.

This is a production that rests very heavily on the exceptional capabilities of the cast. I could not identify a weak link, and every performer deserves particular credit. However, it would be wrong not to mention Enya Crowley, on stage almost constantly as Orlando. She has an undeniable stage presence, and seems poised and entirely at ease on stage at all times. They demand attention while giving what is largely a subtle and understated performance, making them an ideal balance to the delightfully pantomime-esque comic performances delivered by many of the other actors. In scenes such as the one where Orlando falls in love at the Elizabethan ice fair, she must carry off some very lyrical speeches, and she does so with subtlety and sincerity.

“Creating theatre that is genuinely fun to watch is not a small feat, and nor is it an unimportant one”

Also especially worthy of mention is Annie Rainbow as Mrs G, who beautifully balances comedy and tenderness. She has a beautiful sense of comic timing but is still convincingly and movingly maternal, as demonstrated in how naturally she uses terms of endearments for Orlando, and small gestures of affection, such as stroking their hair. The range demonstrated by all the multi-rollers was amazing, exemplified best perhaps by how Romola Goldfarb morphed from Woolf herself into a cockney sex-worker. I have to mention that my favourite scene starred Flossie Adrian, who hilariously inhabited the comic captain, a character who completely malfunctions as the now-female Orlando wanders around the deck in underwear. It is also impossible to watch the show and not wish to give kudos to the makeup artistry of Alice Frecheville and the costume design of Esther Crasnow-Dodd, Leah Richens, Isabelle Crawford, and Keila Idzikowska. There are some truly spectacular dresses on display in this production, and the makeup, taking inspiration from both drag and the circus, was very effective.

My only qualms with the show are more to do with the Neil Bartlett stage adaptation that was used than Eva Sharkey’s directorial choices. I thought the beginning and the end were the weakest parts of the show, both using a kind of meta-theatrical question of Orlando about who they are rather than unfolding narrative. This was a shame considering that the actual story of Orlando had to be taken at a sometimes disorientating pace, skipping over much of the novel’s content about writing and writers. These bookends of the show felt the most mannered and on-the-nose, stating the play’s concern with identity and self-discovery rather than exploring it. I am also not sure about inserting Woolf into the story at all (it may be, as embodiments of Woolf declare at the beginning of the play, her story, but it is about Sackville-West, not her, and I’m not sure how she would feel about intruding into her own narrative), let alone about somewhat confusingly splitting her into three entities. While I respected the production’s general attitude of embracing chaos and not stopping to explain, I would also have appreciated some actual indication of who Mrs G is.

However, none of this impeded my enjoyment of this gem of a show. I think it is a wonderful thing to leave the theatre feeling better than when you arrived.