1984 - UK tour

In cases like this I generally go against my usual policy. Normally I actively avoid reading reviews before seeing a production but in this case I’ll be looking for any positive indicators because: in general I don’t like adaptations of novels; and, in particular, I’ve never seen a satisfactory dramatisation of this novel. So much of Orwell’s original relies on narrative description and relating Winston’s thought processes that it’s extremely hard to get it across on stage or even screen.

I agree that many of the themes are ‘disturbingly relevant’ – perhaps more so now than at any time since the years immediately around the time of publication. For most of my lifetime it has been fashionable to say Brave New World was the more convincing dystopia as (at least in the ‘first world’) we spent many decades Amusing Ourselves to Death (to borrow Neil Postman’s term) and colluding in our exploitation rather than being directly controlled or oppressed. But in recent years it seems to me, Orwell’s bleak vision has been coming into its own again. There is the cctv/surveillance society and fake news that you mention along with the competing power blocs that have, to a greater or lesser extent, always been there.

But it seems to me that there are two or three particular features of Orwell’s vision that never seemed all that convincing until recently but suddenly look very prescient. And I’m not confident that a modern production with shine much light on them.

Perhaps the most obvious is that language is being policed to a much greater extent than I can remember in my half century of adulthood. Strident voices instruct us in the 'correct' words to use in many cases and, in extreme instances, the use of 'incorrect' words is publicly vilified or even punished. Then there is Winston’s conviction that If there was hope, it must lie in the proles described as those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania which is eerily redolent of the way ‘populism’ is often referred to these days as if it were self-evidently worthy of contempt. Perhaps the most striking thing for me (and this is related to but not exactly the same as your ‘fake news’) is that Winston’s job involved amending archives to reflect what the Inner Party would like them to have said rather than what they did say when they were written. For years this struck me as fundamentally implausible because of the sheer impracticality of locating and identifying all instances of politically incorrect records. But with the rapid retreat from hard copy and migration to centrally distributed digital and streamed material the job of a 2024 Winston Smith might not be all that unrealistic - and in many cases seems actually to be happening.


For me, the interesting thing will be to see if any of these developments is hinted at in a new production. Or if the ‘Inner Party’ elements in today’s theatre ensure that only those parts of Orwell’s work that suit their own purposes are stressed. I note you say their illicit love affair certainly didn't feel genuine with any real chemistry. Is the Junior anti-Sex League active in 2024, do you think?