*Nottingham Playhouse*
This George Orwell adaptation is a superbly handled multimedia speculation on the nature of truth
The Party plays plenty of mind games in George Orwell's novel about a world ruled by the all-seeing Big Brother, where love is forbidden, history erased and language twisted. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, co-creators of this stage version, are not afraid of playing a few of their own in their pitilessly brilliant retelling of the doomed love affair between Winston and Julia.
Drawing on Orwell's crucial appendix entitled "The Principles of Newspeak", which follows the apparent end of the narrative, the show places past, present and future in constant dialogue. At times it feels like a vision of tomorrow, and at others like something half-remembered. Chloe Lambert's clever design offers the retro alongside the futuristic; the figure of a small child is frequently glimpsed, sometimes a sinister Midwich-Cuckoo presence, and at others a symbol of the hope Winston places in the children of the future. A snatch of the rhyme Oranges and Lemons is heard in various forms, from a hum to a ringtone.
Framed by a book club from the distant future discussing a document from the past – Winston's diary – the show is a superbly handled multimedia speculation on the nature of truth that never lets the audience off the hook. This is not an easy watch, in any sense. When Winston and Julia think that they are safe and unseen, we are spying on them on a giant screen like voyeurs. Merely by watching, we become the Thought Police. Language is treacherous, too: Winston turns betrayer simply by speaking.
The beauty of this Headlong production is that, in showing us the future, it makes us question the present. We leave the theatre less complacent about our own freedoms; less likely to swallow the lies of those who hold power.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 5/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
This George Orwell adaptation is a superbly handled multimedia speculation on the nature of truth
The Party plays plenty of mind games in George Orwell's novel about a world ruled by the all-seeing Big Brother, where love is forbidden, history erased and language twisted. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, co-creators of this stage version, are not afraid of playing a few of their own in their pitilessly brilliant retelling of the doomed love affair between Winston and Julia.
Drawing on Orwell's crucial appendix entitled "The Principles of Newspeak", which follows the apparent end of the narrative, the show places past, present and future in constant dialogue. At times it feels like a vision of tomorrow, and at others like something half-remembered. Chloe Lambert's clever design offers the retro alongside the futuristic; the figure of a small child is frequently glimpsed, sometimes a sinister Midwich-Cuckoo presence, and at others a symbol of the hope Winston places in the children of the future. A snatch of the rhyme Oranges and Lemons is heard in various forms, from a hum to a ringtone.
Framed by a book club from the distant future discussing a document from the past – Winston's diary – the show is a superbly handled multimedia speculation on the nature of truth that never lets the audience off the hook. This is not an easy watch, in any sense. When Winston and Julia think that they are safe and unseen, we are spying on them on a giant screen like voyeurs. Merely by watching, we become the Thought Police. Language is treacherous, too: Winston turns betrayer simply by speaking.
The beauty of this Headlong production is that, in showing us the future, it makes us question the present. We leave the theatre less complacent about our own freedoms; less likely to swallow the lies of those who hold power.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 5/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.