Review: New Adaptation of George Orwell's Bleak 1984 Docks at the Broad
By: Don Grigware Jan. 15, 2016
The Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse, and Almeida Theatre Production of/1984/by George Orwell/in a new adaptation by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan/directed by Icke and Macmillan/The Broad Stage, Santa Monica/through February 6
George Orwell's classic 1984 was written in the mid to late 1940s. As a political visionary the author saw destruction and annihilation in the totalitarian state. Those on the lowest level were impoverished but might possibly live their lives free of constant intervention and manipulation, whereas the working class above would be forced to serve the omnipotent, omnipresent Big Brother. Revolutionaries were weeded out by counter-revolutionaries, punished for their non-obedience and brainwashed. There would be no existence of prior facts or statistics and even the language would be changed - Newspeak - to eliminate any type of radical flavor. No individuality was allowed. Orwell hated the facist government that had controlled pre-WWII Europe and so 1984, like Animal Farm, is his verbal attack on the system and a plea for brotherhood, humanity and the human spirit.
Many productions of the lengthy one-act play are laborious to watch with the tedious repetition of certain scenes and the presentation of humans as practically zombies. This Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre Production has given us some spectacular special effects in sight and sound... and intense staging by adaptors/directors Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan that make the play fascinating to watch at every turn. I found myself riveted to the characters and events as in a good mystery and marveled at the manner in which characters moved, spoke and acted in ultra mechanical fashion. The screen above the actual work area shows a hidden room where Winston Smith (Matthew Spencer) and Julia (Hara Yannas) supposedly find a respite of love and tenderness as revolutionaries pretending to be counter-revolutionaries until they are caught and tortured by Big Brother and his henchmen. Kudos to all eleven actors for their on.target performances: Spencer, Yannas...and: Simon Coates, Tim Dutton, Stephen Fewell, Christopher Patrick Nolan, Ben Porter, Mandi Symonds, and Inez Lynch Alfaro, Rusian Heginbotham, and Emma Markolf sharing the role of the child.
The production is not without its problems, however. On opening night, it was extremely difficult to understand many of the actors' exchanges, unless they were intentionally slowed down blocking-wise in an overly exaggerated dynamic pace such as in the last scene in the torture room 101 or in the factory where employees plod along at a snails' pace and repeat their words several times. In the ordinary conversation of Winston and Julia, I could not properly hear what they were saying onstage; no problem onscreen, as that is crystal clear, as if recorded on film. It made me wonder whether actors were without microphones or whether there was some kind of sound problem on this particular stage. Whatever, it was disconcerting, and I heard many audience members complaining about it in the lobby following the performance.
Overall, this is a horribly depressing piece, but visually satisfying and enriching theatrically as it pushes the limits to show the atrocities of a government that crushes the human spirit. The acting is all great, and the direction, consistently engaging and exciting.
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