Orlando is befuddled, then, bewitched and, finally, bewildered by the life and times in which he, then she, lives.
Playwright Sarah Ruhl sends the character, created by British novelist Virginia Woolf, hurtling in Act 1 and Act 2 through the Elizabethan Age and the 17th century as a man. But after a night of debauchery, Orlando wakes up as a woman. She stumbles forward in time in the second half through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries trying to make sense of herself and society’s expectations of women.
Meg Taintor, producing artistic director of Opera House Arts in Stonington, chose the play long before the word Orlando bore the weight of 49 killed and 53 wounded in a hateful and heinous act.
Director Natalya Baldyga wrote in the program that as rehearsals began, her vision of the play focused on “how Orlando explores the multiple identities we experience as we move from youth to maturity. I did not envision the production making a bold statement about same-sex attraction or relationships.”
That changed on June 12, when she learned of the massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, less than two weeks before the show was to open, she wrote.
“Virginia Woolf wrote [her novel] ‘Orlando’ as a love letter to Vita Sackville-West, who was herself a prominent writer,” Baldyga said. “It is no longer enough for me that we merely accept this great love as a fact. Our production, ‘Orlando,’ must embrace and celebrate that love.
“We cannot, and should not, erase the wrenching associations that the name now holds, but we can provide additional connotations. ‘Orlando,’ for us, as come to mean choosing to love, always, even in the face of great odds, disaster and despair,” she said.
Baldyga dynamically mounts the play as theater-in-the-round at the Burnt Cove Community Church in Stonington. Her original vision is clearly and artfully staged. How much the recent events in Florida color how theatergoers’ experience the production depends on what they bring to it.
Ruhl’s play, like Woolf’s novel, is heavy on description and light on dialogue, which grows a bit tiring by the second act. Elizabeth Anne Rimar portrays Orlando as both a woman and a man, and a chorus of three men and a woman take on all the other roles.
Rimar creates a complex yet nuanced character. Whether a man or a woman, her Orlando is charmingly fickle, constantly in search of love, growing in self-awareness as the story progresses.
Because of its literary style and language, “Orlando” could have been a bore — a stylized lecture on Virginia Woolf’s view of the world. That it is not, is due in large part to Rimar’s magnetism. She also enfuses Orlando with a sense of adventure that is irresistible.
Jade Guerra, Bari Robinson, Jason Martin and Per Janson take on multiple roles from Queen Elizabeth I to William Shakespeare to Orlando’s many lovers, men and women. All perform wonderfully and work so well as an ensemble that none can be singled out for outshining another.
The set for “Orlando” is a group of platforms and ramps with doors that open so actors may retrieve props and costumes. The cast moves them into different configurations as locations change in what is complex choreography rather than the usual stage blocking.
Baldyga, with the help of choreographer Daniel McKusker, turns scene changes into dances with time as the action moves from one century to another and across continents. At times, theatergoers feel like they are hurtling through time and space as Ted Simpson’s set pieces are pulled apart, then, pushed into new configurations.
Karen Boyer’s costumes, especially those worn by Orlando, are what anchor each act in its time period. The pieces donned by chorus members cleverly convey as much about the multiple characters each actor must play as their portrayals do.
David Remedios’ complex sound design and Brian J. Lillienthal’s bare-boned lighting design complete Baldyga’s vision of the play as a straight-forward tale with complex complications that poses questions about gender, love and sexuality.
With “Orlando,” Opera House Arts again has shown that theater can challenge and entertain, illuminate and educate and send audience members home with their heads full of questions.
“Orlando” will be performed through July 10 at the Burnt Cove Community Church in Stonington. For more information, call Opera House Arts at 367-2788 or visit operahousearts.org.