Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando was published in 1928, but as this adaptation shows, its themes of sexual and gender fluidity were well ahead of the times.

It has been variously adapted as film, opera and theatre, but surely there has never been an Orlando quite like this new experimental musical. Antipodes Theatre Company’s take skips through key moments of the novel about an aristocratic young man of the Elizabethan era, who one day wakes up as a woman and lives for centuries without ageing.

Antipodes Theatre Company’s Orlando. Photo © Angel Leggas/3 Fates Media

From the title character’s ill-fated romance with a Russian princess during London’s 1608 Frost Fair on the Thames, to marrying a sea captain in the 19th century, it’s a playful, loving and also critical interpretation of the the original text.

Snippets of it are used verbatim in this Orlando, whose book and lyrics are by Willow Sizer in collaboration with their fellow cast members, alongside Rachel Lewindon who contributes music and lyrics. Also featuring Marty Alix, Louie Dalzell, Manali Datar and Kikki Temple, the cast all play Orlando at various times, as well as other characters,...