1984

Reviewed: July 19, 2017

1984 is playing at the Hudson Broadway Theatre located at 139-141 West 44th Street. It runs one hour forty minutes with no intermission. It is an open ended run.

This is a new adaptation of George Orwell’s (Eric Arthur Blair) novel. He was born in June 25, 1903 and died on January 21, 1950. The novel was published on June 8, 1949.

It premiere at the Nottingham Playhouse on September 13, 2013

Reed Birney was nominated for a Tony Award for The Humans (2016).

Winston (Tom Sturridge) is writing in a book thinking big brother does not want us to write. If they find out I could be in trouble.

Scenes go back and forth between Winston and a group that meet during lunch. They discuss books they have read. Charrington (Michael Potts) leads the group of Parsons (Wayne Duvall), Martin (Carl Hendrick Louis), Syme (Nick Mills) and Mrs. Parsons (Cara Seymour). Julia (Oliva Wilde) serves them coffee. Winston meets Julia here. They have an affair. If Big Brother finds out they are in big trouble.

O’Brien (Reed Birney) convinces Winston that he is against Big Brother and wants to bring them down. He asks Winston and Julia questions on what they would do to bring ruin Big Brother. O’Brien tells them that are now part of the brotherhood to bring Big Brother down. However he works for Big Brother and Winston is in big trouble.

People are ruled by Big Brother, they are not allowed to have thoughts among the many things. They are told false things like they are at war with Asia and they are not. Records of people lives are erased as if they never existed.

The special effects are wondrous. The set and layout is unusual but in an impressive way.

The cast does a stellar job.

The only misgivings is how did Big Brother take over and why didn’t people fight back.

But in a subtle way they may have in the end.

This is a must see play. It makes you think, could this happen, is Big Brother looking over us? I won’t tell what is said at the end but when you hear it, it might be erased from your memory.

This is an interesting play to see.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the bottom for recent photos. Click on a photo, then click back to album and finally click on back to gallery for this and other shows.