George Orwell’s prescient futuristic dystopian story, directed by Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, and adapted by Chris Hannan, is a strange beast. At once, origin story of how it was Orwell came to create the novel, flanked by characters who both homage and pastiche post- World War 2 stiff upper-lippery; and a potted adaptation of the story itself, it’s solid, yet not always surefooted in its execution: at least initially.
This is due to a script which oscillates between a reverence for- and iconoclastic approach to- the language of fear, dominance and control that was the whole catalyst for Orwell’s tale. So much of it is still in our contemporary lexicon, and it currently permeates through society, through our questions around surveillance and AI. Violence of expression and thought, Orwell postulated, were every bit as damaging as boots on the ground.
The cast are fine: Jack Tarlton as Orwell/Winston is versatile and has a commanding presence, while Jessica Hardwick as a headstrong Julia gives the once underwritten character more urgency and agency. Robbie Jack, Irene Allen, Neshla Kaplan, Peter Collins and Zrey Sholapurkar provide strong support. Irene MacDougall is particularly impressive as the gender- swapped sadist O’Brien.
Tom Piper’s set has a clinical design of sickly bleached out colour, while the Party’s slogans run like Barbara Kruger’s famous headline- inspired activist words in slashes of red and blocks of black.
It’s not subtle then- but should it be? Thunderclaps and hissing static provided by Phineas de Thornley Head and Mark Melville punctuate the most intense scenes, providing jump scares in lieu of genuine graphic brutality. But it’s a good stab at unearthing the deployment of state control.
The best, most potent moments arise where a line is drawn between Orwellian warning signs and the lurch to the right in 2026. “We are the dead”, is Winston and Julia’s mantra, as they commit the ultimate subversion against Big Brother’s omniscience through their love affair, but this pulses with enough life, energy and heart to (almost) justify its lengthy running time.
Photos by Mihaela Bodlovic
A Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre and Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh co-production. At Dundee Rep Theatre until Saturday, 10th October.
