Review: ORLANDO at Constellation Theatre Company

Virginia Woolf was onto something when she wrote her novel “Orlando: A Biography” 95 years ago — a tall tale of aristocracy and adventure for a poet who also happens to change gender. It rings true, too, in its adaptation by Sarah Ruhl, the clever and popular contemporary playwright whose version of the story was one of her earliest commissions in 1998.

And in the hands of the Constellation Theatre Company, it’s a rollicking and thoroughly enjoyable romp that, beyond all the sass and surprise, packs a surprising amount of heart at its core. Flipping gender is clearly not a big aspect of the production. Men played women who were sometimes disguised by men all the way back to the Elizabethan era. And in a troupe as small as this one -- numbering just a handful — it’s necessary to take on new genders as one does accents and accessories to populate a cast of characters. 

None of it would have worked as well without the stellar Mary Myers in the title role, a boisterous and bold boy in the play’s first half, when he’s also a struggling poet of meager talent; who emerges in an elaborate dress by play’s end, as surprised about the turn as anybody else, but otherwise not making a big deal of it.

By then Alan Naylor had already gone from male chorus member to no less than Queen Elizabeth, with endlessly amusing exaggerated royal elocution and manner; Christian Montgomery had turned from a fumbling maid to a grand sea captain named Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine; Edmée-Marie Faal turned from chorus to sleek Russian skater Sasha, a mysterious figure of indeterminate gender; and Arika Thames had moved from female roles to that of a deep voiced Archduchess. 

It’s a crazy world out there, and it goes by quite quickly, jumping from one century to the next. Only at the end does Orlando have the experience and wisdom to actually publish her long-delayed epic poem, and she only does so because of all she’s been through. 

Director Nick Martin has a way of getting the most not only out of every cast member, but out of nearly every line. Everything is done with emphasis; the exclamation point is everywhere. Yet it all works in bringing verve and pizazz to every part of the production.

The space at Source (which is undergoing an exterior renovation that nearly makes it unrecognizable) has an interior that can be configured any number of ways by occupying theater companies, but Constellation has found a fine way to combine a broad performing space with entrances from the aisles (and through a central, magical cabinet) that’s similar to the design of the equally enjoyable production of “The School for Lies” last spring.

It’s a way to bring the audience so close they’re almost part of the action. But it also allows set designer Sarah Beth Hall all kinds of details, from empty frames that become mirrors, pictures or windshields; to the baker’s dozen of clocks that signify time's passage; to a special cabinet from which a human hand can deliver a needed prop. 

Kitt Crescenzo’s costuming is outstanding, from the detailed period dresses to the versatile ruffles and collars of the chorus, who also have bodices affixed with images from Botticelli and his Renaissance brethren. Naylor’s queen has just the skeleton of her hoop skirt to suggest the full gown, as well as an Elizabethan collar so wide it could cause flight.

Crescenzo, as well as associate director Francesca Chilcote and actors Myers and Montgomery all worked with director Martin in his Helen Hayes Award-winning production of a previous Ruhl work at Constellation, “Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce” in 2018. 

Assembling the talent together for another Ruhl gem makes for a sprightly, fast-moving production that likewise shouldn’t be missed. 

Running time: About 90 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Edmée-Marie Faal, Alan Naylor, Mary Myers, Christian Montgomery, Arika Thames. Photo by DJ Corey Photography. 

“Orlando” plays the Constellation Theatre Company at Source, 1835 14th St NW, through Nov. 11. Tickets at 202-204-7741 or online.

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