Sharon

…in the coffee bar of the Almeida Theatre, Islington for ‘1984’, a dramatisation of George Orwell’s novel published in 1948.

I hated it. I started to feel negative about 10 minutes into the play and after 1 hour 40 minutes without an interval, couldn’t get out fast enough. Actors, acting, dialogue, set, lighting, stagecraft - all devoid of merit. Decide for yourself. The play has had good reviews and transfers to the Playhouse Theatre in the West End on 28 April.

The worlds of 1984 and today comparerd:

1) In 1984, The Party was dominant. Today, the private corporation is all-powerful.
2) In 1984, people were being watched by cameras. Today, CCTV plays only one part; the computer and the Internet have created far more powerful tools to track our every move.
3) In 1984, there were shortages. Today (certainly in the richer parts of the world) there is too much, over-production, over-consumption; it’s essential to the system.
4) In 1984, there were three great states and shifting alliances between them; Orwell was writing shortly after the Soviet Union went from being ally to enemy. Today, the permanent cold war between two blocs of states with the ‘non-aligned’ in between has been replaced by the permanent anti-terrorist war, where the enemy is not a state and is harder to define and pin down.
5) In 1984, torture was used to try and instil The Party’s version of the truth into its victims. Today, torture is used to try and extract truth from its victims by regimes throughout the world - extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo Bay and UK government complicity in US sanctioned torture included.

What is similar between the two worlds is the way people are controlled, manipulated, pressurised to conform and given a version of the truth that suits those who have power. Big Brother is still very much with us. A play which explores today's Big Brother would be far more interesting and challenging than one which rehashes a 66-year old novel.