Marvellous Machine is a female-led theatre company made up of theatre maker Lou Corben and musician/composer Becki Reed. We’re a small ensemble-driven company with limited resources, yet the stories we tell are ones of castles, beasts, and magical transformations. We bring stories to life using live music and foley, object theatre, puppetry, and physical theatre. Some say that limitation breeds invention and that seems to be the case with us.

With our latest production, ORLANDO, we're leaving our Oxford home for the first time! We are participating in Brighton Fringe, the perfect festival for a show like ORLANDO, but we need your help to get there!

The Show

“I’m sick to death of this particular self. I want another.”

Orlando: Poet. Lover. Adventurer. After an evening’s encounter with a traveller woman, Orlando is transformed forever.

Following the sell-out The Tiger’s Bride, Marvellous Machine Theatre Company return with their hilarious and joyful production of Virginia Woolf’s ORLANDO adapted by Sarah Ruhl. Using live music, comedy, drag and movement, they bring to life Virginia Woolf's high-spirited, queer romp through history. Join us as we travel from the court of Queen Elizabeth I to 20th Century London, via Constantinople and the high seas.

Themes

The work of Virginia Woolf is consistently studied at colleges and universities. In the early 1920s, Woolf met fellow writer, Vita Sackville-West and something awoke in Virginia which she had previously not encountered: desire for another woman - something which, of course, was illegal at the time. ORLANDO: A Biography (1928), is Woolf’s tribute to Vita. Just two years after ORLANDO was published, Lili Elbe became the world’s first recipient of gender affirmation surgery. With the now-burgeoning trans rights movement, ORLANDO seems more joyfully relevant than ever.

Reviews and audience comments

“a masterful adaptation… a splendid piece of theatre” - Daily Info

“succeeds in teasing out provocations within Woolf’s story… [an] intriguing, thoughtful production.” – Newbury Weekly News

"Witty, inspiring, moving, musically smashing"

"Words, words would not have enough impact to explain how incredible the performance was"

“I'm uplifted by the whole experience - buzzing in fact!"