Orlando is once again on stage, this time as a one-woman show in Taiwan.
Beijing opera diva Wei Hai-min is the star who has the challenging dramatic task of playing the roles of Orlando and the other characters who wander through 400 years of English history.
The two-hour play, which opens the Taiwan International Festival, is directed by Robert Wilson. Said to be an entirely new dramatic version of Virginia Woolf’s novel, it features a stark set and highly abstract architectural sets.
Wilson’s production attempts to present the text as spoken by the body independently of the voice, according to the Tapei Times. Wilson calls it “listening to the pictures.” Wei said her operatic training gives her a considerable advantage in fulfilling Wilson’s goal for the play.
Wilson is the American choreographer and director who has staged the monologue, which was adapted from Woolf’s Orlando by Darryl Pinckney, in both German (1989) and French (1993) versions, according to Mark Hussey in Virginia Woolf A to Z (206).
Orlando is on stage through Feb. 28 at Tapei’s National Theater. Read the full story here and a review titled “Diva gives unique take on Orlando” here. Then find out more about Wei.
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