Review: Proving To Be More a Prophesy Than A Heeded Warning, George Orwell's 1984 Comes Off The Page and Onto Stage.

Thursday 29th June 2017, 7:30pm, Roslyn Packer Theatre

Returning to Australia following success at the 2015 Melbourne Festival, Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan's adaptation of George Orwell's famous dystopian novel 1984 is presented by Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia with an all Australian cast. The Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production that has been stunning and shocking audiences from London's West End, Broadway, and International tours considers the work, first published in 1949, with an element of knowing over 30 years after it's 'futuristic' setting.

With a flexible timeline, the audience first meets protagonist Winston (Tom Conroy), starting his journal in 1984 in Chloe Lamford's (Designer) timber panelled, government building reading room but everything is a little off kilter. Initially weaving between Winston's memories and a future book club he will never see that is reading his journal, the work is presented in relatively short snippets with somewhat shallow, mechanical characters reflecting the fragility of Winston's mind as it is trying to retain memories of truths. Shocks of blackout, intense strobe and intense sound punctuates the transitions between scenes, all of which starts to make sense once Winston is subjected to the Ministry of Love's brutal torture and shock therapy. Given that the storyline is, for the most part, well known, I won't delve any deeper into the production detail to ensure that the experience isn't sullied beyond the assessment that this is a well-crafted production when viewed from the point of being inside Winston's tortured mind.

With short, sharp shots of story, not even Winston's character can be fully fleshed out but Conroy ensures that we see him as an average middle-class worker that realises that the establishment is manipulating the truth, altering history and seeking to control it's people in with a dictatorial regime. Using expressive facial reactions, Conroy presents Winston's confusion and bewilderment at finding himself in different points in his history, and even looking in on a future where he no longer exists. He captures not only the fear but also the defiance in the face of the interrogation that O'Brien (Terence Crawford) serves out in the Ministry of Love's Room 101.

As the only other character that reasonably fleshed out, Terence Crawford ensures that O'Brien is seen as sufficiently shifty from his first introduction to Winston and Julia (Ursula Mills) where he convinces the couple that he is part of the resistance. He allows O'Brien's revelation of his true allegiances to evolve with a sinister blood lust and menacing authority. He makes sure that it is clear that O'Brien fully believes the ideology of the institution and has no scruples in erasing the past, or Winston.

As Winston's love interest Julia, Ursula Mills presents as somewhat two-dimensional performance, in keeping with her apparent desire to hide any evidence of her true thoughts out of fear, and the framing of the story as slivers of Winston's memories which are in the process of being destroyed and are therefore simplified. Paul Blackwell presents the gullible Parsons with the absurdity of those that have surrendered to the government's philosophy and Coco Jack Gilles (role shared with Molly Barwick) presents Parson's child with an unsettling focus, fitting of the children who the government has enlisted to report breaches of the permissible thoughts.

In an unusual move, following audience responses to the production both interstate and internationally, Sydney Theatre Company released a warning to ticket holders ahead of opening night. Without listing the side effects experienced by audiences at other performances (vomiting, fainting, and seizures), STC ensures that the audience is forewarned that the adaptation does not shy away from the confronting torture along with employing effects that make the audience feel like they are being subjected to the same punishment. To some degree this pre-sets the expectation of horror and adverse responses, resulting a sense of relief, or letdown depending on your inclination to dramatics, when the audience do not appear to experience any of the side effects. The variance in responses between the Sydney opening night and experiences at other productions, and even earlier stops on this tour, may however be attributed to the different political climate that the audiences are experiencing along with any pre-existing medical conditions.

1984 is naturally a confronting and thought-provoking work which proves that whilst the original novel was written in 1949 as a response to the second world war and Hitler's Nazi regime, intended to be a warning to avoid repeating history, there have been elements of Orwell's dystopian society in civilisations throughout the ages and unfortunately, the world has not learnt from its past mistakes. Whilst appearing to be written as a caution, when viewed in the contemporary context of the 21st century, it's a reminder that we need to resist the brainwashing and technology dependence that has come to control our lives and that Orwell's predictions of 'Big Brother' and constant surveillance have become real despite the warning bells that ring out. This production makes the 'classic' work more accessible to a new generation, whilst serving as a reminder of Orwell's predictions.

1984

Roslyn Packer Theatre

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