Lorna Irvine review's Cryptic's 'gorgeous' remount of its theatrical and musical adaptation.
One of the greatest works of twentieth-century literature is transformed by Cryptic into one of the most wonderful performances of the last five years. This year, Cryptic turns twenty, and what better way to celebrate?
Darryl Pickney's stunning adaptation of Orlando, the timeless novel by Virginia Woolf (a paean to lover Vita Sackville-West), seems simply staged with silver drapes which unfurl like the past selves of the boy courtier who changes sex through the centuries, and onto which ethereal projections flicker.
With a simple intonation, sashay, or roll of her feline eyes, lovely elfin Judith Williams evokes Woolf's parodist scrutiny of gender: the ease of being a voracious 'swordsman' (in both senses) or the childlike swishing of starched petticoats; and similarly, the limitations imposed on each, all knowingly undercut by sly humour, wisdom and a sense of changing political and sexual mores.
Such density within the script and rich on-screen imagery is matched by a glitchy, jarring score by celebrated composer Craig Armstrong with AGF, which roots Orlando's themes of freedom, identity and self-determinism very much in the present day. One little wiggle of Williams' behind is a simple statement of intent: the rebelis evident in any independent woman today.
Williams' monologue is breathless, giddy and utterly mesmerising, and the audience inhales together as one, exhaling only as she leaves the stage. Gorgeous, and all you could hope for.
Performed at the CCA March 27-29. Run ended.
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