wanted to rehabilitate Orwell’s masterpiece by
attempting to stage the formal gesture of it instead of
justboilingitdowntoasimplenarrative.”
TheSTCSArevivalof 1984 opensinAdelaidein
May. Guided to the stage by associate director Corey
McMahon,itmovestoSydneyinlateJune.Thecast
featuresTomConroy(asWinstonSmith),PaulBlackwell,
Terence Crawford, Ursula Mills, Renato Musolino, Guy
O’Grady,YalinOzucelikandFionaPress.
“Reality is very much up for grabs in this production,”
says McMahon, explaining that its starting point is
Orwell’s frequently overlooked appendix to 1984.
“Peopletendtoskipitbecauseitseemsabitdry
andacademic,”McMahonsays.“Butit’sactually
very important because it throws the question of
theauthorshipoftheaccountintotheair.”
Orwell’s appendix, entitledThe Principles of
Newspeak,iswrittenfromsomeunspecifiedpointin
the future. In it, the reader learns that Big Brother
waseventuallyoverthrown,notthroughtheactionof
rebels, but because the limited lexicon of Newspeak
contains within it the seeds of its own destruction.
“Areyoureadingapieceoffiction,orsomekindof
historical document,” says McMahon. “If it’s the
latter,whowroteit,andwhen?Theappendixmakes
everything deliberately hard to pin down.”
Thecurrentproductionopenswithabenign-
seeming book group discussion of what may or may
notbeWinstonSmith’sdiaries.“Inonewayweare
inOceania[oneofOrwell’sthreepost-warmega-
states]andwearealsoinatheatrewatchingabunch
ofactorstellingastory,”McMahonsays.“Youare
observing two realities and you believe them both.”
That uncertainty is key to the effect 1984 has on
its audience, Macmillan says. “The people onstage
arebothcharactersandactors,theyarebothreal
and fictional. We hold those contradictory thoughts
inourheadseffortlesslywhenwatchingaplay.So
‘doublethink’ runs through our production like
thelettersinastickofrock.JustasOrwell’snovel
playsthesesortsofmindgames,soourproduction
messes with the audience’s head. It’s an irreconcilable
Schrödinger’s Cat exercise in doublethink.”
Similarly, while the world of their production owes
somethingtothelookandfeelofpost-WorldWarII
Britain,itis,infact,anillusion. 1984 is realised with
thehelpofagreatdealoftheatricalhi-tech.
“WhenIfirstmetRob[Icke]webothtalked
about how we’d first seen the potential of theatre as
teenagers,oncewe’dbeendraggedawayfromourTVs
orgamesconsoles,”Macmillansays.“We’deachbeen
taken to see something which had blown our minds.
Buttheatreisoftendullandirrelevant,particularlyto
young people. We wanted to give them an experience
that was going to be worth sitting through.”
Most reviews of the production have commented
onitsvisceralimpact.Lighting,designandsound
“sho c k t he sen ses” w roteThe Guardian’s c r it ic. ALos
Angeles Timeswriter considered it “terrifying”.
“OneparticularlygratifyingTweetthatwegot
wasfromateenagerafteraschooltriptoseetheplay
saying,‘WTF–justsaw#1984play–itwaslike
being at a Skrillex gig’,” says Macmillan. “We’ve
overheardallsortsofcontradictoryresponsestoit,
from all over the ideological spectrum. People will
inevitably look for the things in the story that
support their own worldview. But none of us get
outofiteasily.Itwouldbegreatifpeoplelooked
hardatthethingsthatmadethemfeelthemost
uncomfortable and reckoned with that.”
But the most important thing when you are making
aworklike 1984 that connects to a young audience
isnottopreach,saysMacmillan.“Wedon’taimto
teach young people about the merits or perils of social
media,” he says. “The interesting thing to convey to
theyoungeraudiences,andanyoneelse,isthatour
thoughts might not be our own and to articulate the
question, ‘how do you know you’re in the right?’”
McMahon describes 1984 as an unashamedly 21st-
centurypieceoftheatre.“Theatrehasalotofstiff
competitionfromgamingandthelikesofAmazon
andNetflix,”hesays.“Thetheatrehastokeepup.It’s
important to make it just as thrilling and audacious, and
something that really pins you back in your seat. It’s not
afraid to engage with the audience on a visceral level.”1984 isatHerMajesty’sTheatre,Adelaide,May13–27,
inMelbourne,May31–June10,atQPAC,June10–14,
RosylnPackerTheatre,Sydney,June28–July22,
Canberra, July 25 – 29 and Perth, August 4 – 13ORWELL’S NOVEL PLAYS THESE SORTS
OF MIND GAMES, SO OUR PRODUCTION
MESSES WITH THE AUDIENCE’S HEAD
50 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au
O 1984