'Virginia Woolf's Orlando' at the Lyric Stage Theatre, Boston

My first theatre trip in Boston last week was to see a play based on 'Orlando', the novel by Virginia Woolf, at the Lyric Stage Theatre, the first time I've been in a theatre on the first floor of a hotel. The story is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be - I think of it as the tale of an Elizabethan boy  who turns into a woman and seems to become immortal as she lives through the ages up to the present day. This immediately gives theatricals the opportunity to delve into the dressing-up box but I'm pleased that this production was restrained and only Orlando changes clothes to reflect the changing times. I also liked the restrained staging that leaves the rather small stage to the actors rather than cluttering it up with props and scenery. There wasn't the space to spare in this theatre.

We first meet Orlando as a care-free boy playing outside in his noble family's grounds when he remembers that the queen is visiting and he needs to be there to welcome her. She takes a fancy to him and whisks him off to court where, as he grows up, he learns of his attractions to the fairer sex and exploits them. We then have the Great Frost and the Frost Fair on the Thames and he meets the beautiful Russian princess and falls for her. When the ice finally melts his princess seals away on a Russian boat and he's left bereft. Poor Orlando is then pursued by a mysterious lady so he seeks to be sent as an emissary to the court at Constantinople and his wish is granted.

After a particularly lavish party Orlando wakes up as a woman and, taking this in her stride he heads back to her country seat in England. Unfortunately, the strange woman still pursues her and then reveals he is, actually, a man. And so continues Orlando's eduction in what it means to be a woman, discovering the importance of modesty, a ring on the finger and a man in her life as a provider and protector. She can no longer carry her sword and do as she pleases and her life is different. Such is the lot of women.

Orlando's life goes on and on and we meet her again in her motorcar on the way to a department store to buy something or other when the years seem to pile in on her and she loses her way momentarily. Orlando can only go forward and soon regains herself and continues ever onwards. I wonder where she is now?

I really enjoyed the play with some genuinely laugh out loud moments (even for me!) as Orlando serenely sails through time. The only major costume changes were for Orlando with the Chorus all dressed neutrally, just signalling changes in character by adding a hat or a coat or something. I liked the stripped-back nature of the production - it would be so easy to go over the top with subject matter like this and I appreciated the restrained nature of the production that allowed the characters to emerge and the actors to shine.

In a cast of only six people it's unfair to pick out any particular performances, particularly since all of them were on stage for virtually the whole production but I did like Caroline Lawton as Orlando, bringing just the right amount of humour and puzzlement to the part. I also liked Elise Arsenault as the Russian princess and musical director (among other roles) and Michael Hisamoto in his various roles. The play was by Sarah Ruhl and directed by A. Nora Long.

It was a very enjoyable evening and great fun to see Orlando brought to life.Would this play work in London? Yes, I think it probably would, possibly in somewhere like Southwark Playhouse or maybe the Charing Cross Theatre?