​​Warrnambool Theatre Company is thrilled to announce that our 2026 major production will be Orlando, based on the classic novel by Virginia Woolf, adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett. The production will be staged at the Lighthouse Theatre in September 2026.
 

Production Team​

• Producers: Penny McLeod & Dean Field

• Director: Warren Easley

• Assistant Directors: Ruby Shepherd, Sharon Gore & Paul Fimmel

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Key Dates
 

• Information Session: 18 Feb, 6.30pm

• Orlando & Mrs G Auditions: 27 Feb, 6.30pm, 1 March, 2pm  

• Virginias Auditions: 13 March  6.30pm, 15 March, 2pm

• Cast rehearsals: beginning 17 May

• Performances: 16-19 September 

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About the Play
Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett

 

“How queer to have so many selves” (Virginia Woolf, 1935)

 

“It has to be half laughing, half serious, with great splashes of exaggeration” (Virginia Woolf, 1927)

 

Both of these phrases have been taken from Neil Bartlett's introduction to his adaptation and will form our fundamental approach to the WTC production.

 

Orlando is a journey of love, identity, and transformation.

 

Beginning as a young courtier in the time of Elizabeth I, Orlando moves across five centuries of history, through wars, revolutions, and social upheaval, even changing gender along the way. It is a life that refuses to be confined to one body, one era, or one definition. Across centuries of living and loving, Orlando ultimately finds the courage to truly be herself.

 

In Neil Bartlett’s sparkling stage adaptation, Woolf’s story takes on powerful contemporary resonance, celebrating the right to love and to be oneself beyond old orders and expectations. Bold, playful, and deeply human, Orlando asks a timeless question: who are we, when “nothing is any longer just one thing?”​