Review: Orlando at the Jermyn Street Theatre

Sarah Ruhl has adapted Orlando ingeniously for a cast of five: Orlando, Sasha, and a three-strong chorus. It is excellently cast, and extremely slick in its execution, with plenty of carefully timed chorus-speaking and snappy sharing of sentences throughout.

Taylor McClaine’s Orlando is endearing as a young man and later glides elegantly into womanhood while carrying all the simmering frustration of knowing what freedoms she has lost in the process. Their conspiratorial relationship with the audience has a lovely light touch and brings comedy and spirit to the performance as a whole.

Skye Hallam as Sasha manages to be simultaneously imperious and coquettish, and with all the other four cast members onstage throughout, director Stella Powell-Jones has lent her a lovely air of mystery and unattainability as she appears and disappears from the scene.

Meanwhile, Tigger Blaize, Rosalind Lailey and Stanton Wright carry the storytelling nimbly, switching between a number of smaller character roles and guiding the audience with direct-address through the twists and turns of Orlando’s 350-or-so-year life, slipping Orlando in and out of Emily Stuart’s deconstructed nods to the costumes of this rich period of history.

This is a prime example of small-scale theatre which needs no flashy high-budget sets or costumes to spin a compelling and heartwarming yarn. There is something unbeatably satisfying about the simplicity of good performances – and apart from being a lesson in adaptation, it would be extremely useful for students to see what can be achieved with relatively few resources other than committed and hard-working rehearsal time.

Orlando is playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre as part of The Outsiders Season until 28 May 2022. Booking information at www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk