48 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

O 1984

Theyear1984mighthavecome

andgonewithfewilleffects,but,

saysJason Blake,GeorgeOrwell’s

dystopian nightmare has seldom

seemed quite so up-to-date –and

it’s coming to a theatre near you...

W

hen US President Donald

Trump’s counselor Kellyanne

Conwayalertedtheworldtothe

existence of “alternative facts”

in January this year, George

Orwell’s novel 1984 rocketed

tothetopofthefictionbestsellerlists.Thebook’s

American publisher, Penguin USA, rushed 75,000

copies into the shops. They flew off the shelves.

The British director and playwright Duncan

Macmillan, who was then in the United States

supervising the upcoming Broadway production of

histheatricalversionof 1984 ,watchedithappen.

“Theterm‘Orwellian’isbeingusedonadailybasisand

perhaps people are reaching for the book to understand

exactly what is meant by it,” says Macmillan, who, with

collaborator Robert Icke, created the acclaimed stage

adaptation for the UK touring company Headlong in 2013.

Icke and Macmillan’s 1984 ,whichopenedatthe

Nottingham Playhouse before transferring to the

WestEndin2014,isnowbeingpresentedbytheState

Theatre Company of South Australia on a national tour

thatincludesaseasonatSydneyTheatreCompany.

“It’stemptingtolooktoOrwellasaNostradamus-

like prophet,” says Macmillan. “If readers want to

findourcurrenttimesreflectedinthebookthey’ll

find it: austerity, fear, perpetual war, terrorism,

surveillance, objective truth, the censoring of language

asameansofcontrollingthoughts.It’sallthere.”

When Macmillan and Icke began work on their

adaptation, the news was frequently dominated by

the revelations of former National Security Agency

analystEdwardSnowden.FiveEyes,PRISM,Stone

GhostandECHELONwerenolongersecretdata

collection programs but major media and watercooler

talking points. Issues of privacy, security and liberty

wereontheagendaandatunprecedentedlevels.

“WewereinrehearsalduringthetimeofChelsea

ManningandWikiLeaksandthemurderof[British

Army soldier] Lee Rigby in Woolwich,” Macmillan

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