Orlando 

Character Breakdown

Orlando: A passionate, charismatic, and inquisitive individual with aspirations of becoming a poet. Orlando spends the first thirty years of his life as a man, after which she wakes up one morning as a woman. Orlando defies time, living over 300 years while only aging to 36. Orlando is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s lover, Vita Sackville-West.

Elizabeth: The Queen of England. She brings Orlando to court as a member of her cabinet and her lover, giving him a house and land to further elevate his status. The Queen is strong-willed but insecure. She quickly grows possessive of Orlando, though she ultimately cannot control him.

Sasha: A Russian princess, and Orlando’s first love interest. Sasha has both feminine and masculine characteristics, and Orlando finds her androgyny deeply attractive. While Sasha and Orlando’s love affair is brief, her memory stays with Orlando throughout the rest of their life. 

The Archduke/Archduchess: A Romanian noble with an overwhelming tendency to hee-hee and haw-haw. The Archduke is completely besotted with Orlando and poses as a woman (the Archduchess) to try and win his fancy. After Orlando and the Archduchess have an affair, Orlando escapes to Constantinople to get rid of her. Upon returning to England as a woman, Orlando is visited by the Archduke, who reveals he had posed as the Archduchess in the hopes of wooing Orlando while he still presented as a man. 

Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire: A sea captain who finds Orlando when she falls on the moors. At first, both Orlando and Shel wonder if their new lover is truly the gender they say, as each has qualities associated with both masculinity and femininity. Shel and Orlando quickly become engaged, though Shel remains committed to his life at sea.

And a chorus of others, including Shakespeare, Miss Penelope Hartopp, a washerwoman, Flavilla, Clorinda, Euphrosyne, a Russian Sea-Man, Grimsditch, Dupper, a Salesperson, and an elevator operator.

Please note: This show uses a very flexible choral cast, and cast size will not be finalized until after auditions. The only actor playing one specific character will be Orlando. The chorus may be made up by as few as four or as many as ten other actors (though we’re guessing somewhere in the 6-8 range).