Review of '1984'
SPOILER ALERT!
Staring Matthew Spencer (Winston), Tim Dutton (O'Brien) Janine Harouni (Julia), Robert Ike's and Duncan Macmillan's adaptation runs until 5th September 2015 at the Playhouse Theatre, London with a running time of 101 minutes (no interval).
After reading Orwell's acclaimed classic, I waited with
bated breath as we were directed to our seats in London's playhouse theatre
last night. I was excited to see how his complex novel would be transformed to
a production for the stage. I was eager to discover how 'double think', the
'ministry of love' and the 'ministry of truth', as well as 'newspeak', the '2
minutes hate' and of course the 'telescreens' would be adapted for a live
audience.
Unfortunately, despite roaring reviews from other critics I
came away with mixed emotions. The first part of the play seemed slow, heavy
and ambiguous. I would not recommend this play to anyone who has not read the
book as the scenes flitted from real life, memory to the imagination
simultaneously. It felt like it was trying to be too witty for its own good.
Having just read the book (in the past year), I could luckily remember most of
the action, and could distinguish between performed real action and performed internal
monologue. Yet I felt these abstract concepts would be utterly confusing had I
not read the novel beforehand as the script delivered a confusing, dilapidated
plotline of thoughts and repetitive action. Indeed, there should be an element
of ambiguity to allow for self-questioning and for the play to raise Orwell's
perspectives without being too demanding, yet the complete lack of clarity left
a lot of his themes and ideas to be desired. Furthermore, the play (quite
cleverly) ran for 101 minutes (clearly a reference to 'room 101') which
although was a clever quirk of technicality, the practicalities of this
moderately short running time meant (I felt) that many of Orwell's larger ideas
of truth, reality, privacy, free speech and other elements of fundamental human
psychology were lost as the play tried to conform to this inadequate time
length.
However...the second part of the play (despite having no
interval it was clearly marked between "paranoid confusion" and
"when Winston meets Julia") rapidly picked up the pace and the sense
of foreboding that is entwined in the book was finally clearly demonstrated.
The ever looming sense of 'Big Brother' and 'the party' were cleverly conveyed
using cameras and film on a large screen above the action on stage. The set was
also rather clever - an oppressive, wood-panelled room filled with book shelves
on the walls and frosted glass windows set with a heavy desk just off centre
stage which was the basis for a train station, office, canteen, O'Brien's
office and Winston's home. After seeing this boxed-in set, when the room was
completely dismantled after Julia and Winston's capture leaving just a white
blank space for Winston's torture in the 'ministry of love', it created an
intense sense of panic as the set's bright white glare and clinical sterility
created a heightened sense of cruelty, manipulation and psychotic madness.
This, bizarrely, was the highlight of the play. Strobe lights and sirens had
been used already, yet here the staging was used to create a simulation effect
on the audience - hitting us with strobe lights then total darkness as Winston
is slowly brain washed and excruciatingly tortured. Each time the bright white
lights on stage were re-illuminated, Winston would have more blood over him -
from his mouth, from his toes, from his fingers,
from everywhere - creating a realistic, sickening sensation which was almost
unbearable to watch. Yet this is where theatre is at its best - the uncontrollable
emotion that real life performance can produce, the depth of passion of disgust
at his torture was at a similar level if not worse than what I had when reading
the book itself.
This leads me on to Matthew Spencer's utterly incredible
performance of Winston. I've not seen a theatre performance like it. Watching
his psychological and emotional journey from paranoid and confused to
enlightened and hopeful to ultimately broken, powerless and yet heart-breakingly
defiant in the face of extreme orthodoxy was undeniably astounding. His
colleagues were also well-played, yet I reckon Julia (Janine Harouni) could
have been stronger and more defiant, yet I believe this was down to her poor
script not her acting capability - it seemed she was there more for a love
story rather than being with Winston together to fight the party. Furthermore, Tim
Dutton as O'Brien, was brilliant in his sickening role as a lead controller of
Winston's torture and 'rehabilitation' yet, sadly, the punch of his betrayal was
missing due to the rushed and disorganised script which neglected to build or
convey any of Winston's trust in O'Brien to make his betrayal that much worse.
This sadly meant his character lost the depth and meaning of that which is
stunningly created in the book.
Overall: 3.5 Stars.
Despite these mixed emotions, I would still recommend '1984'
but only to those who have read the classic - do not have high hopes of being
able to appreciate every aspect and theme of Orwell's novel that of course make
it so brilliantly timeless, but do have high hopes of a spine-tingling, unnerving
experience as you explore the world of 'the party' and the constriction of the
infamous dystopia.
