A dystopian view that offers a glimpse of hope

Play: 1984
Company: Headlong Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Almeida Theatre
At: Comedy Theatre
Until: Saturday, June 10
Rating: ★★★★

REVIEW
BY CONOR ROSS

Bringing a famous story to a different medium while both building on and respecting the original's intentions is a challenge for even the most talented director.

It is a challenge that Headlong Theatre faced in its production of George Orwell's 1984, yet has passed with flying colours.

The play 1984 tells the story of Winston Smith, an ordinary man living in a world dominated by the ruling totalitarian government known as The Party. The Party controls its people through various means of mass surveillance and by altering facts, statistics, and even the past to obfuscate the truth and inspire loyalty to its cause.

Winston is tasked with rewriting, altering, and deleting newspaper articles that promote scepticism, all the while he begins an illicit and dangerous affair with a woman named Julia, risking both his life and hers.

The adaptation of Orwell's dystopian novel boasts an all-Australian cast, starring Tom Conroy (Winston) and Ursula Mills (Julia).

Conroy's and Mills' performances are dynamic and intimate, worthy representations of Winston and Julia’s rebellious relationship – a forbidden love that could only be trumped by Romeo and Juliet.

In the novel, Orwell expresses his fears of life under a totalitarian state primarily through Winston's inner monologues, which leaves the practical application of a stage version somewhat difficult to comprehend.

However, not only does 1984 feel appropriate for the stage, the production excels in ways the book cannot.

Lights and sound play a significant role, which Natasha Chivers and Tim Reid use to simulate life under The Party – a jarring, noisy, and abrasive world that is particularly dangerous for “thought criminals".

Visual media is also used, with a huge screen towering over the stage projecting live video of scenes that take place off-stage.

This inclusion is interesting from a technical point of view but, unlike the other multimedia elements, it ultimately reduces the impact on the audience.

The actors are also not afraid to break the fourth wall in bringing the audience into the performance, treating them as if they are "Big Brother" itself, with Winston shouting to the crowd: "I know you're there, I can see you. Someone stand up, please help me!"

A sense of déjà vu is achieved in early scenes by secondary characters who repeat the same motions every morning, causing Winston to question his sanity while a news bulletin announces “the chocolate ration has been raised to 20g” for the third morning in a row.

The story of Winston and Julia still has much to say about the threats our civilisation faces, whether it be what Orwell saw in a post-World War II Britain or in the increasingly globalised world we live in today.

In recent years, the novel has been referenced relentlessly by journalists, media personalities and politicians in relation to surveillance and privacy concerns worldwide. If Orwell could glimpse into the modern world he would likely be able to understand a number of social and political trends that have been growing recently.

Although the current state of the world seems dire, there must be some hope for the world if intelligent, entertaining, and unyielding productions such as 1984 can still be seen without penalty or censorship.