Review: 1984 at Liverpool Playhouse

Orwell’s 1984 gets an intense, new adaptation by Robert Icke and Duncan Millican, but is 1984 still relevant to a modern audience and is there entertainment value beyond the shock tactics?

1984 tells the story of the intellectual rebellion of Comrade 6079, Winston Smith, against the totalitarian dictatorship, Big Brother, as he: thinks a thought, starts a dairy and falls in love, in a world where the price of such actions might be being “unpeopled”. With such a wealth of material it was intriguing to see how they would approach such an established classic.

Heading in to the play, I didn’t imagine that it would be possible for the story to be transformed into an even more surreal experience than it already was but this adaptation is truly trippy as balls.

It is a tall order to take a book written over 60 years ago and present it as a play to a modern audience, but this is where this adaptation of 1984 succeeds most triumphantly. From the social satire of everybody being fixed to screens, whether phones or televisions, as a distraction from what is actually happening in the world, to the invasion of privacy by a dictatorial regime (*cough* Tories *cough*).

The sheer spectacle of the show from the intense lighting, to the pain-inducing static that hogs the soundtrack, to the shocking imagery is what really takes the play into overdrive. All of these aspects combine to create a sensory overload that makes the experience as difficult to endure, in a good way, as it is for the characters.

When the characters speak directly to the audience and beg you to stop this brutality, there is no way of avoiding its harsh realities; the play confronts you and forces you to re-assess what you know. It is unavoidable: Big Brother is watching you.

So it seems that 1984 is more relevant than ever, with the recent Edward Snowden spying leaks, the revelation that the U.S. government has bugged high-ranking Brazilian and German politicians and wikileaks recent publication of mass surveillance documents sent from intelligence agencies to world governments, this play really couldn’t have come out at a more relevant time.

Ultimately, this is truly a brilliant piece of art about revolutionary thought for a time when revolutionary thought is needed more than ever. Expertly-acted and well-directed, it keeps you glued to the edge of your seat at all times. The message is clear: dare to think, dare to dream, dare to love, because without that we don’t really have anything.

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