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Delve into the thought-provoking world of George Orwell's '1984' as we examine Winston's forbidden diary, his love for Julia, and their resistance against the Party. Discover the intriguing question of whether the characters in Winston's book are real or just figments of his imagination. Explore the themes of individuality, freedom, and the power of brainwashing as Winston's journey leads him to Room 101 and a confrontation with his deepest fears.
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GWB ENTERTAINMENT, AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUPASIA PACIFIC & STATE THEATRE COMPANY SOUTH AUSTRALIA PRESENT THE HEADLONG, NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE & ALMEIDA THEATRE PRODUCTION
Winston
Please note: The Pre-Show Briefing Document includes; Introduction to the show, A list of the Cast and Creative Team, Biography on Orwell, Preshow Activities and Links, Theatre Review Preparation and a Note for Students.
plot overview
1984 is set in the same year as its name, in a world called Oceania. Oceania is a place where the Inner Party watches its citizens actions and scrutinizes their thoughts. Defying a ban on individuality, the protagonist, Winston, a member of the Outer Party, writes his thoughts in a diary and falls in love with a young headstrong woman named Julia. Robert Ike and Duncan MacMillan’s production leads the audience to question if the characters in Winston’s book group are only in his head or just as real as him. Winston and Julia are not safe anywhere, except the “secret” bedroom situated in the Antiques Store.
Eventually Julia and Winston confess their desire to resist the party to a formal and well spoken O’Brien, who they believe to be a member of the resistance. O’Brien presents them with a book which is supposedly written by Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood. Time passes and Winston finds himself in the Ministry of Love, and it is revealed that O’Brien is in fact the leader of the Inner Party. O’Brien orders the torture of Winston and intends to break his spirit and introduces the concept of doublethink. Winston fights to remain human and a free thinker at all costs. He believes that to be free, humans must be allowed to believe in an objective truth, such as 2+2 = 4. O’Brien works to brainwash Winston in to believing that 2+2 = 5.
O’Brien takes Winston to the most feared room in the Ministry of Love… Room 101.Winston endures excruciating and bloody torture on his mouth and fingertips… but still does not relent. It is when he is confronted by his greatest fear: rats, that he finally relents screaming, “Do it to Julia!”
In the end Winston is a changed man. He is broken. His last words are, “Thank you”. He no longer knows how to be a free thinker.
Watch a Summary of Orwell’s 1984 (novel) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JIKngJnCU
orwell’s appendix in 1984 – a framing device
“At the back of Orwell’s novel there is an appendix. Which is unusual in a work of fiction. Is this a work of fiction? Is this a historical document? Who wrote the Appendix in 1984? Icke and Macmillan (Directors) started to ask questions about who was telling the 1984 story and what was the function of the appendix? When reading the novel, readers finish it, having been told that Winston feels thankful and happy as he has finally won the battle over himself and has been brainwashed by the Party. Readers may not go on to read the Appendix and they close the book… But if they read on, they would discover much more about the Party.
Icke and Macmillan have used the Appendix as a framing device for their production. The way audience’s enter the world of Oceania and the story of Winston Smith is through a group of people in the future looking back on possibly Winston’s Diaries. “
Corey McMahon – Associate Director
Photo Credit – Shane Reid
q&a
Robert Icke & Duncan MacMillan - Co Adaptors and Director
What drew you to 1984 in the first place?
We were interested in looking at big important canonical texts whilst asking the questions:
There is a 15 year-old boy in me who gets really bored in period dressed productions of classic plays. Just because everyone says it’s a classic doesn’t mean anything. If it is boring it’s still boring. One of the things we’ve talked about a lot is wanting to be able to allow young people access. Theatre is in competition with a lot of great stuff. We spend our time watching Mad Men , The Wire , The West Wing and video games. There is a real desire to want to be current in that conversation and to want to be able to say to young people who come that we can deliver them a live experience that is as fizzy and exciting and immediate as they might find their Grand Theft Auto 5 session. That’s the aspiration.
What aspects of the novel did you find most important when adapting it for the stage?
Many argue that 1984 is an unstable novel as Orwell’s feverish completion of the book in his almost dying days allows holes to creep in. However, in your production, are you arguing that these holes stand up because if you look closely enough the dream state is foreshadowed in even quite minor details?
That’s right. The holes are often perceived as being the weaknesses of the play but I think they are the bits you want to stage. I really felt this about the novel. That’s the exciting stuff. We looked at the contradictions in the novel. For example, the fact that we are introduced to Julia as thought police and then Winston switches to saying that she’s not thought police and we never really get a payoff to whether she is or she isn’t. An early provocation that we gave each other is that if the party is going to fall it is because there are people like O’Brien high up in the inner party who are members of the Brotherhood. The party does fall. So does that suggest that O’Brien might actually be Brotherhood after all and Winston is just a terrible radical? He is not radicalised properly. He doesn’t finish the book.
There are feelings that 1984 is a prophecy of a self-destructive mission foretold. There are no surprises because the surprises in a sense were there if you spotted them. Would you agree with this notion?
Yes. Which is why O’Brien keeps saying to him, ‘You know this already. You’ve always known about this. You know the answer to that question already.’ One of the things we talked about at the start was the theory that the whole novel happens on the duress in Room 101. So you’re seeing strange flashbacks to things that have already happened, which explains the fevered quality and the ambiguities.
Someone could retrospectively view the entire play as having taken place in Room 101 in terms of what we do with the staging and design at that point. Also, O’Brien’s voiceovers and sound effects we hear in Room 101 are used earlier on in the performance. This also contributes to how you stage doublethink.
It is also important to us that the book that they discuss could be Winston’s diary, it could be Orwell’s novel, and it could also be Goldstein’s book.
How did you approach the adaptation process?
The overriding thing was how do we find a theatrical form for how complicated this is? How do we achieve doublethink? How do we deliver the intellectual argument? We were always talking about the audience. Can we take along a 15 year-old who has never read the book? And can we also satisfy the scholar who has read this book a hundred times and can it stand up to re- reading? I think we have ended up being incredibly faithful to the book.
Your responsibility is to whoever is in the room that day and to the person who wrote it originally and you’re trying to connect the audience and the world of now with whatever the text is. If the text is worth looking at there will be a way of bridging that gap whilst remaining honest and being truthful to both parties. I think it is profoundly dishonest to do the blue overalls April the
4 th version of 1984 because what it doesn’t deliver is so much of the complexity which is what we found so exciting.
Listen to Icke and Macmillan talk Orwell and 1984 (Audio Quality Variable)
http://www.theatrevoice.com/audio/headlongs-robert-icke-and-duncan-macmillan-talk-orwell- and-1984/
Corey McMahon - Associate Director
How does the re-staging of an extant production work?
This production of 1984 is a re-staging of the Headlong production that was created by Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan. So our job was not to create a wholly new version of their adaptation. Our job was to re-stage what they created with a new cast of Australian actors. So we’re not reinventing the wheel. Given how brilliantly their adaptation of Orwell’s novel works on stage it would be folly to attempt to change it.
As associate director, what was your role in bringing 1984 to the Australian stage?
When you are Associate Director on an existing production, charged with the responsibility of reproducing the work of the show’s creators, your task is to be faithful to that original vision. It’s not your job to find a new way of telling (in this case) the story of Winston Smith – the creators, Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan have already done that – my job was to serve their vision, their style and to not radically change that. It’s very different from directing a production that is built around your own artistic vision. That work has been done already. You have a responsibility to protect the creator’s work but also ensure the new cast have a degree of ownership over what they are doing on stage. Good actors deserve the chance to stake their claim on the work. So in this context its a balancing act between ensuring we remain faithful to the original production and to also making sure your actors have a voice in the creative process.
Because we’re reproducing an extant production, the creative teams, like me, have a brief to honor the design and technical elements created by the original creative and technical teams.
What experience do you hope Australian audiences have in viewing 1984****?
This is a bold and dynamic production. It’s a contemporary take on Orwell’s literary masterpiece. The good thing is you don’t need to have read the book to get caught up in the story of Winston Smith and his fight for truth and freedom. It’s at once thrilling but also thought provoking with its continued relevance to the world we live in. So my hope is that people walk away from seeing it thoroughly entertained but also starting to think in a deeper sense about the way our world in evolving.
What was your overall vision?
To present the play in such a way as to ensure the work speaks for itself. This isn’t a story that needs tweaking or embellishing so as to make it relevant to contemporary audiences. It always has been (and will continue to be) relevant. So the vision is to honor the work of the show’s creators, to honor Orwell’s story and to ensure we let the play speak for itself.
What process did you go through to bring 1984 to life?
What do you think Orwell’s message to the world is?
1984 was written as a warning. Orwell was writing in response to the rise of fascism in Europe, the impending expansion of communism in places like the former USSR and Korea and predicting a time where these forces had taken hold. He was asking us to remain vigilant, to constantly question the ‘truth’ we are being told. He was also warning us that in 1984 totalitarian regimes would exercise control not through brute force but by controlling language and thought. He predicted that the control of language would lead to controlling how we think. And once you control thought, you control the population.
I reckon he’s pretty close to the mark when you look at how our politicians speak, how information is framed by people in power to ensure we think and react the way they want us to and how ‘alternative facts’ has thrown into question what objective truth is.
Photo Credit – Shane Reid Shannon Rush – Assistant Director
I am the Assistant Director on 1984 and also act as the chaperone for the two child actors in the Adelaide season. As Assistant Director I’m responsible for ensuring continuity and specificity in the many highly choreographed scenes of the play, and supporting the director in any way needed. I’m also responsible for directing and working with the child actors on their scenes. This ties into the chaperone role, which involves being the main contact person between the families and the company, and ensuring safety of the children during rehearsal and performance.
What do you think are the key moments in 1984****?
Winston meeting and falling in love with Julia, Winston being initiated into the Brotherhood and receiving Goldstein’s Book, and (spoiler alert!) Winston’s capture and interrogation in Room
Is there anything different about this production as compared to the original novel?
Yes. It’s impossible to distill all the detail of a novel into a 101 minute live production. The writers have done an incredible job of retaining key information, but a book and a play are very different artistic forms, so concessions and changes have been made.
Do you have any favourite quotes from 1984****? Why did you choose these?
One of my favourite quotes from the play is, ‘We are the dead,’ which is repeated many times by various characters. It’s sort of like Winston’s motto! I like this quote because, in the context of the play, it reminds us of Winston’s purpose and it also ties into the ever present question of time; past, present and future.
Photo Credit – Shane Reid
technical design
In this production of 1984 the technical design is intensive and highly sophisticated. It includes many clever and lightning fast stage transitions, sometimes taking place in complete blackouts. The designs are precise and technically advanced. The sound, lighting and video elements all work together to allow the audience to feel like they are members of the Party, watching all that goes on; as well as experiencing a taste of the mental torture Winston experiences throughout.
At the Adelaide Subscriber’s Briefing the Associate Lighting, Sound and Video designers spoke about the following…
the show and by previous companies of actors. Once we had mastered this framework sufficiently, we were able to personalise our performances and flesh them out with our own motivations and expressions. Also, we are working with various subtle shades of the one English accent, which requires careful research and constant vocal vigilance.
Because of the non-naturalistic ‘dream logic’ of the play, the usual motivations such as ‘super objective’ don’t really apply for all the characters. As I am playing an archetype, her thematic significance and dramatic function has been a more useful guiding principle. In each scene, I am aware that the ‘mother figure' represents anyone who is disadvantaged, who struggles to understand the world; who struggles to articulate her thoughts; who feels more than she thinks; who nurtures others; who sacrifices herself. These big ideas also express themselves in particular and immediate scene objectives. For example, Mrs. Parson’s wants to get her child home safely; Winston’s mother wants to protect her children from harm.
Sometimes, the process described above felt uncomfortable because it is kind of ‘back to front’ from the usual way in which an actor works. Normally, when we are creating a role from the ground up, our intuitive responses and imaginative ideas are considered, tested, rejected, incorporated or whatever. In this process, those intuitive responses were only occasionally useful, and often got in the way of an accurate recreation of the performance. A good analogy for this task is the fact that we are wearing costumes made for the previous cast. The clothes may not fit me very well but I must inhabit them with the same sense of ease as if they were made for me. The same goes for the performance.
I really like what my roles represent politically: there is a thread running through them, though the play and through Orwell’s story about how a solid, caring, hopeful woman could be the saviour of the human world. She does not have to be advantaged in life, or even be well- educated, to show us an almost animal intuition for goodness and self-lessness.
My favorite Mrs Parson’s moment in the script... As he watches the washerwoman outside his window, and listens to her singing, Winston expresses this same idea: “ She’s beautiful … all over the world, millions, billions of people just like her. Ignorant of one another’s existence, held apart by hatred and lies, and yet almost exactly the same. People who have not yet learned to think but who are storing up in their bellies and their muscles the power that will one day overturn the world … the same solid, unconquerable woman … a metre wide from childbearing, working, toiling from birth to death … Still singing ."
Ursula Mills – Julia
Julia is part of the anti-sex league and works in the fiction department. She has a secret relationship with Winston and together they are renegades of Big Brother.
Julia represents recklessness, rebellion and sexuality; everything that Winston is not. Her crimes against the party are for personal survival and she doesn't have the interest of overthrowing the Party.
There's an ambiguity about Julia which is something we've discussed in rehearsal, much like the concept of doublethink, Julia could be both rebel and Thought Police. There are many layers to Julia which aren't always perceptible to Winston or the audience.
The environment dictates her physicality and behavior. When she's being watched by Big Brother she has a certain rigidity to not draw attention and stand out, a consummate member of the Outer Party. But when she's alone with Winston there's a sensuality in her movement; away from the observation of Big Brother she's allowed to be vulnerable.
What I like about Julia… She is acutely intelligent; she doesn't digest the Inner Party propaganda, however, she is also honest about her response to it; she doesn't care about the news reports because she knows it's fictional.
Julia will act against the party with her own secret disobedience. She knows what she has to do to survive, while holding on to her personal veracity. "What you say or do doesn't matter, only feelings matter."
Renato Musolino – Martin
Martin is O' Brien's servant. He also acts as a nightmarish vision for Winston. Martin's presence very much haunts Winston throughout the play.
He is loyal to the inner party, and to Big Brother.
I have very much enjoyed the physical construction of Martin, exploring stillness and specificity of gesture.
Martin doesn't say much at all, but he is always doing something to Winston. Either trapping, intimidating, haunting. His presence constantly unsettles and jolts Winston. Paul Blackwell – Parson’s
I play Parsons and the Father in the book group, which frames the play, as well as one of the torturers and scene changers.
Parsons is one of the Outer Party members we encounter in the three Canteen scenes and then finally in the cell with Winston where he meets his demise.
In a world where the individual is constantly observed and thus paranoid and extremely vulnerable, Parsons tries to be seen to be a strong supporter of the Party and all of its policies.
We meet Mrs Parsons and their daughter in other scenes, though never together, so we build up a picture of life in their household and the activities of the daughter in the compulsory training young people must participate in: Activities that are strongly supported and encouraged by Mr and Mrs Parsons.
Sources which helped me in approaching this play: 1984 , George Orwell Homage to Catalonia , George Orwell Orwell Essays , George Orwell Life and Fate , Vassily Grossman The Sympathizer , Viet Thanh Nguyen Farenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury
Photo Credit – Shane Reid
characters
Winston Smith - The protagonist and a “thinker”, who hides a secret distain for the Party. On the outside, Winston appears to “tow the line” but embraces his dreams and memories of the past. As the play progresses, Winston’s beliefs become stronger and he develops a relationship with Julia. In the end Winston’s rebellious thoughts are eradicated and loses his humanity.
Julia – Is a young woman who works for the anti-sex league in the fiction department. She develops a relationship with Winston and they discover they both have the desire to be a part of the rebellion. Just like Winston, she is tortured in the Ministry of Love, which we do not see, and when they are reunited, both are physically and mentally broken.
O’Brien – Is a mysterious and all powerful member of the Inner Party. On the one hand he is Winston's enemy and on the other, his ally. He is like a father figure but is full of contradictions. He is responsible for Winston's ultimate indoctrination to the Party. O'Brien is a personification of the Party, and its doctrine is revealed through him.
Mr. Charrington – Is the owner of the antique shop where Winston rents the room. He appears to be a nice, old man but in the end, reveals his disguise and is a member of the Thought Police.
Parsons – Is Winston’s next door neighbour and husband to Mrs Parsons. He is the father of the little girl in the play. Parsons is a likeable, yet naïve character, who in the end, has his thoughts encountered and is imprisoned by Big Brother. He finds Winston in the Ministry of Love.
Syme – Is a Newspeak expert who is working on a dictionary. Syme is too smart for his own good and is clumsy. In Orwell’s story, Syme goes missing and is vaporized.
Martin – Is O’Brien’s right hand man. He leads Julia and Winston to O’Brien and is present during their meeting. He is a mean character, one dimensional and militant. He is a constant presence throughout the play.
Mrs Parsons – Is a character of contrast in this play, where she appears to represent all things good and of nurture. As most of the performance takes place in Winston’s head, Mrs Parsons takes on the guise as a washer women, a serving woman and represents Winston’s memory of his own mother.
For list of characters and descriptions in Orwell’s 1984 go to: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/characters.html
themes
(Including definitions from the Collins English Dictionary)
What is truth? What are facts? The truth about something is all the facts about it, rather than things that are imagined or invented. The quality of being true, genuine, actual, or factual. A proven or verified principle or statement; fact. A fact - When you refer to something as a fact or as fact, you mean that you think it is true or correct.
What is freedom? Freedom is the state of being allowed to do what you want to do.
What is memory? The ability of the mind to store and recall past sensations, events, actions, thoughts and knowledge.
Nature of power If someone has power, they have a lot of control over people and activities. Political, financial, social, etc.: force or influence
Totalitarianism A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.
Photographic Credit – Shane Reid
quotes
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. The Party Slogan
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. O’Brien
Trust me Winston, I’m going to make you perfect? O’Brien
Control your memories… Reality only exists in the mind, inside the skull? O’Brien
For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then? Winston
And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself. Julia
How do you know you’re not dreaming now? Julia
The truth matters. Winston
Oranges and Lemons Poem
“Oranges and lemons” say the Bells of St. Clement’s “You owe me five farthings” say the Bells of St. Martin’s “When will you pay me?” say the Bells of Old Bailey “When I grow rich” say the Bells of Shoreditch “When will that be?” say the Bells of Stepney “I do not know” say the Great Bells of Bow “Here comes a Candle to light you to Bed Here comes a Chopper to Chop off your Head Chip chop chip chop – the Last Man’s Dead.”
An idea is the only thing that has ever changed the world. “Goldstein”
Being a minority of one does not make you mad. “Goldstein”
Sanity is not statistical. “Goldstein”
background information
Map of World from Orwell’s 1984
SOURCE:MichaelsProgramming-Twisp,PublicDomain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=
