http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au MAY 2017LIMELIGHT 49

1984 O

recalls.“WhenweopenedourWestEndrunofthe

play,justyardsawayfromtheMinistryofDefence,we

were previewing during the Brexit campaign and in the

aftermathofthemurderof[BritishLabourMP]JoCox.”

Itwouldhavebeenrelativelystraightforward

tocreateaversionof 1984 with those resonances,

Macmillan says. “But it was important for us to

not provide commentary beyond Orwell’s book as

thatcouldonlyreduceitsmeaning.Ourjobwasto

findatheatricalformforOrwell’snovel.”

Rather than depict the familiar mechanisms of

oppression, Macmillan and Icke’s adaptation delves

intothecomplexitiesandambiguitiesinOrwell’sstory

ofWinstonSmith,aMinistryofTruthfunctionary

chargedwith“thoughtcrimes”againstthestate.

“I’dreaditasateenagerandhadmistakenly

rememberedaratherstraightforwardpieceof

dystopicfiction,predominantlyaboutthedangers

of surveillance,” says Macmillan. “Going back to

the book, I realised I was completely wrong. What

struckmewhenIwentbacktoitwasthatthebook

is much more about objective truth, about who we

trustandwhy,andifcanweeventrustourselves,

ourmemories,oursenses.Mostterrifyingofallto

mewasnotthesuggestionthatourthoughtswere

beingmonitored,butthatourthoughtswerebeing

manipulated, even authored by external forces.”

Reductivestudyinschoolandvariousfilmversions

ofthestory,havebluntedbothOrwell’svisionandthe

book’s power to challenge, Macmillan believes.

“Orwell’swritingisalotmoreformallyinventive,

strange and exciting than I’d given it credit for,” he

says.“Farfromitbeingaone-sidedrant,it’sactuallya

perfectlycraftedmoralpuzzlewhichis,inthebestway,

unsolvable.Ithinkthat’swhyithasbeenclaimedbythe

leftandtherightofthepoliticalspectrum.Thesupposed

prescience of 1984 comes from its articulation of some of

the irreconcilable contradictions we all harbour.”

Previous adaptations had failed to get to grips

with that level of complexity, Macmillan says. “We

TER