Orlando @ CCA

The CCA – Centre for Contemporary Arts – sees Cryptic reviving Virginia Woolf's Orlando, a tale of a young nobleman from the Elizabethan era searching for love, poetry and a meaning in life. He survives four centuries of British history, up to the twentieth century, which he uses as an opportunity to improve himself, and find someone to share his time and heart with. Throughout the course of history, his observation of humanity finds him so repulsed and disgusted by men, he renounces his gender, and becomes, over time, Orlando, a woman still seeking love in the twentieth century.

Since 1928, various adaptations of the work have been made – from book to the stage, and to film. From a literary standpoint, Cryptic's theatre adaptation of Orlando undoubtedly has some extremely large shoes to fill. With an adaptation of the text by Darrel Pinckney, Judith Williams takes on the role of Orlando, directed by Cathie Boyd. They are accompanied by an original soundtrack composed by Craig Armstrong and AGF, and the tantalising visuals supplied by James Houston and Angelica Kroeger. 

The result appears promising and may well turn out to be an assault on the senses as well as the intellect. As with most of Cryptic's work, technology meets performance, and in this particular production Cryptic plan to make use of two new technologies – Living Canvas and Point Cloud Data Imaging – developed by the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art. [Eric Karoulla]