How does Orlando's manuscript come into being?Where does writing happen in the film and what does Orlando's manuscript mean?
A film still alludes to a moment not seen in the final film: Orlando writing his poem in the library, in the "Poetry" section of the film.
Sketch of the library: in many ways the library is the most private room in the Great House, the only one that no other person ever enters, an "inner sanctum." Poetry/writing as something private = equivalent of voice-over interior monologue or asides to camera?
When we first meet Orlando in the novel, he is writing "Aethelbert: A Tragedy in Five Acts." -- "Soon he had covered ten pages and more with poetry." Orlando in the film is much less prolific -- at the start, he puts pen to paper but then falls asleep!
A schedule from 1991, when pre-production planning focused on shooting at Marfino, a country estate outside Moscow: note the call for quill and pen in scenes with QE (Queen Elizabeth) and NG (Nick Greene), as well as poems and mss. for Orlando to burn.
In the earliest draft, Orlando encounters Shakespeare, writing, as he dashes in to prepare to meet the Queen. In the finished film, Orlando meets Pope and Addison who exchange verbal witticisms, rather than writing.
SP quotes from VW's ROOO: "When she is born again, she shall find it possible to live and write her poetry..." -- Orlando (book and film) embody this nascent Judith Shakespeare. Interesting then, that, Swinton is so silent in the final scenes, first with the publisher, then at the House, and then in the field -- significance of voiceover as adaptation of Woolf's authorial voice AS Orlando's inner/authorial voice.
SP's note on her longterm plans to adapt Orlando and the process of writing the film.