Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Kyle,
and we're going to be talking about, well, the new
stage production of nineteen eighty four. I guess it isn't
exactly a new stage production because it's kind of a
revival of one which was put on about a decade ago. Well,
jumping right into the story, a society where you were
(00:22):
watched every second of every day is the world which
this production is set in. There's cameras in every corner
of your life, microphones in your living room, listening to
every word which you speak, unable to escape the ever present,
omnipotent force controlling your world. And this isn't Jim Carrey's
(00:43):
The Truman Show. It's George Orwells nineteen eighty four. This
is the existence of one Winston Smith, played on the
stage by Michael wally Now as an editor in the
so called Ministry of Truth. It's his job to edit reality,
to ensure that no proof exists which contradicts the truth
(01:05):
as dictated by the ruling party of Ingsock. And this
dystopian future, Winston, like everyone else in Oceania, is beaten
down to believe, act and talk in the way that
Ingsock's ruler, big brother, says that they must, but Winston
has found a diary and a blind spot in his
(01:27):
apartment where the cameras cannot monitor him. There must be
something more than this to life right now, he meets
Julia played by Chloe Baylis, a young and beautiful woman
who immediately detects his own burning need for rebellion. Now
together they begin a secret affair and dare the unthinkable
(01:49):
to question, can we fight back now? With the possible
help of O'Brien played by David Whitney, a treasonous party member,
Winston dream of doing his part for the betterment of mankind?
But is this all folly and his big brother still watching?
Is freedom of thought even possible? Or does Ingsok have
(02:12):
Winston and Julia exactly where they want them now? George
Orwell's final completed novel, nineteen eighty four, went on to
be his most influential and iconic. It was written over
many years and it was published in nineteen forty eight,
and the germ of the idea was sourced from many inspirations,
(02:34):
the vice like grip and surveillance, state of the Soviet Union,
Nazi propaganda, and the terror and conference which saw the
divvying up of Europe after World War II. Now, the
book and its take on totalitarianism is one which seems
current no matter when you read it. It's, in a word, timeless,
(03:00):
how timeless. Well. In twenty fourteen, Shaken Stir Theater Company
first presented their stage adaptation as a follow up to
their hit production of George Orwell's Animal Thorm. At the time,
it was said that nineteen eighty four was more relevant
than ever before. And well, now it's twenty twenty five.
(03:21):
Shaken Stirs Nellie Lee and Nick stoogeby reviving George Orwell's
masterpiece for a new national tour, and guess what, it's
more relevant now than ever before. Again, it's one of
those few books which I've read, and one of the
far fewer which I've read more than once. Like everyone
(03:44):
else who doesn't simply reference it, but actually experiences the novel,
I'm taken it back by just how expertly it encapsulates
humanity's desire to be free, but also our i desire
to control and to belled. There was a highly regarded
film adaptations, staring John Hurt and Richard Burdon, released in
(04:08):
nineteen eighty four. Actually, but despite being a film guy myself,
I didn't really care for it. I felt at last
some of the point of the novel, which I can't
say about the State show. I believe that Shaken Stirr's
adaptation is one worthy of the title George Orwell's nineteen
eighty four. It's directed by Michael Footscher, and moving from
(04:33):
page to stage. Some things have been edited out for
the play's ninety minute runtime excuse me, but the meaning
is all still there, the oppressive atmosphere, the sense of
fear and unbeatable odds, but also the human spirit and
hopefulness in the face of it. We are excuse me again.
(04:58):
We're transported into win Eton's paranoid existence from the moment
which when you make your way to your seats, as
beaming spotlights pan the auditorium, blinding the audience and illuminating
us individually for the whole world to see. This play
is not an altogether pleasant experience. It's daunting, it's loud,
(05:23):
and it's depressing, with the lighting design by Jason glen
Wright and the sound design by Guy Webster making us
feel like we're in this cold and emotionally violent world.
Passive massive plasma screens looming over the real stage are
used a great effect throughout the night, showing us the
(05:46):
extent of the paranoia and the surveillance which Winston is
subjected to on an unanding basis, the terrifying eyes a
big brother watching every move. The two minutes hate as
the enemy of the part. He is presented for citizens
to focus their anger on lest they begin to question
(06:06):
Ingsock itself, but also as a window into the inner
thoughts of Winston's journal, explaining this dark society to us
as he dares to commit thought crime in doing so,
also his dreams and desires and his adoration for Julia,
(06:26):
but also the fatherly affection of a brine. And this
is all something which I think was missing from the movie. This,
this internal monologue. It is something that I think that
the movie was really lacking. The set, designed by Josh McIntosh,
expands beyond the dark and barren industrialized Grastland as Winston
(06:48):
and Julia attempt to live a normal life. The classically
designed apartment folds out from the side of the stage,
completely at odds with everything else. It's this one place
of homely warmth, and love. When not in the apartment,
it is closed off to us once more, and we
(07:08):
return to the brutal reality of a slave society under
the thumb of their masters, enhanced by the drab plane
and intentionally jandalist costume choices of just plain overalls. Now,
while Michael Waally did seem a little too healthy for
(07:30):
how I've always pictured Winston, he plays the part magnificently.
He's a meek coward fueled by his own his own
certainty that things shouldn't be this way, someone who wants
to be free, as his instinctually knows he should be,
regardless of what the party order him to say. You know,
(07:53):
Chloe Bayless is spot on aus Julia. She's young, she's beautiful,
she's liberated, and she's full of life in almost always
completely the opposite of Winston, but someone who needs to
suppress all with these qualities when her own instincts simply
desire to be a woman and to be loved as one.
While David Whitney as O'Brien is also great, portraying that
(08:17):
balance of the paternal care which Winston sees in him,
but also the weathered authoritarianism of a party official, now
as much of a slave to Big Brother as the
rest of them. It's horrific and depressing. Nineteen eighty four
wasn't a science fiction story which accurately predicted leaps and
(08:39):
technologies so much as it accurately depicts humanity's failings. Insock
might be the noose to hang everyone with, but the
people of Oceania allowed their necks to be put into
that noose in the first place. It's a totalitarian regime.
It doesn't simply want to control the masses. It wants
(09:02):
some masses to love the boot as it crushes on
their necks. Now shaken Ster Theaters bring this terrible vision
of a potentially not too distant future to the stage
perfectly with incredible production and a small, yet talented cast.
George Orwell's magnum Opus is brought to life in vivid detail,
(09:22):
and as someone with a great love for the novel,
I wholeheartedly recommend it now nineteen eighty four is well.
I saw it as part of the national tour which
is going on. I saw it at the Comedy Theater,
but that production has actually wrapped up by now, wrapped
(09:43):
up on the sixth. But there's going to be a
national tour to follow, so for tickets and showtimes, I'd
recommend checking out Shake and Stir, dot com, dot Au
and yeah I, especially if you're found in nineteen eighty
four the novel, I highly recommend checking out this really,
(10:05):
really well put together theatrical production
Hello, welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Kyle,
and we're going to be talking about, well, the new
stage production of nineteen eighty four. I guess it isn't
exactly a new stage production because it's kind of a
revival of one which was put on about a decade ago. Well,
jumping right into the story, a society where you were
(00:22):
watched every second of every day is the world which
this production is set in. There's cameras in every corner
of your life, microphones in your living room, listening to
every word which you speak, unable to escape the ever present,
omnipotent force controlling your world. And this isn't Jim Carrey's
(00:43):
The Truman Show. It's George Orwells nineteen eighty four. This
is the existence of one Winston Smith, played on the
stage by Michael wally Now as an editor in the
so called Ministry of Truth. It's his job to edit reality,
to ensure that no proof exists which contradicts the truth
(01:05):
as dictated by the ruling party of Ingsock. And this
dystopian future, Winston, like everyone else in Oceania, is beaten
down to believe, act and talk in the way that
Ingsock's ruler, big brother, says that they must, but Winston
has found a diary and a blind spot in his
(01:27):
apartment where the cameras cannot monitor him. There must be
something more than this to life right now, he meets
Julia played by Chloe Baylis, a young and beautiful woman
who immediately detects his own burning need for rebellion. Now
together they begin a secret affair and dare the unthinkable
(01:49):
to question, can we fight back now? With the possible
help of O'Brien played by David Whitney, a treasonous party member,
Winston dream of doing his part for the betterment of mankind?
But is this all folly and his big brother still watching?
Is freedom of thought even possible? Or does Ingsok have
(02:12):
Winston and Julia exactly where they want them now? George
Orwell's final completed novel, nineteen eighty four, went on to
be his most influential and iconic. It was written over
many years and it was published in nineteen forty eight,
and the germ of the idea was sourced from many inspirations,
(02:34):
the vice like grip and surveillance, state of the Soviet Union,
Nazi propaganda, and the terror and conference which saw the
divvying up of Europe after World War II. Now, the
book and its take on totalitarianism is one which seems
current no matter when you read it. It's, in a word, timeless,
(03:00):
how timeless. Well. In twenty fourteen, Shaken Stir Theater Company
first presented their stage adaptation as a follow up to
their hit production of George Orwell's Animal Thorm. At the time,
it was said that nineteen eighty four was more relevant
than ever before. And well, now it's twenty twenty five.
(03:21):
Shaken Stirs Nellie Lee and Nick stoogeby reviving George Orwell's
masterpiece for a new national tour, and guess what, it's
more relevant now than ever before. Again, it's one of
those few books which I've read, and one of the
far fewer which I've read more than once. Like everyone
(03:44):
else who doesn't simply reference it, but actually experiences the novel,
I'm taken it back by just how expertly it encapsulates
humanity's desire to be free, but also our i desire
to control and to belled. There was a highly regarded
film adaptations, staring John Hurt and Richard Burdon, released in
(04:08):
nineteen eighty four. Actually, but despite being a film guy myself,
I didn't really care for it. I felt at last
some of the point of the novel, which I can't
say about the State show. I believe that Shaken Stirr's
adaptation is one worthy of the title George Orwell's nineteen
eighty four. It's directed by Michael Footscher, and moving from
(04:33):
page to stage. Some things have been edited out for
the play's ninety minute runtime excuse me, but the meaning
is all still there, the oppressive atmosphere, the sense of
fear and unbeatable odds, but also the human spirit and
hopefulness in the face of it. We are excuse me again.
(04:58):
We're transported into win Eton's paranoid existence from the moment
which when you make your way to your seats, as
beaming spotlights pan the auditorium, blinding the audience and illuminating
us individually for the whole world to see. This play
is not an altogether pleasant experience. It's daunting, it's loud,
(05:23):
and it's depressing, with the lighting design by Jason glen
Wright and the sound design by Guy Webster making us
feel like we're in this cold and emotionally violent world.
Passive massive plasma screens looming over the real stage are
used a great effect throughout the night, showing us the
(05:46):
extent of the paranoia and the surveillance which Winston is
subjected to on an unanding basis, the terrifying eyes a
big brother watching every move. The two minutes hate as
the enemy of the part. He is presented for citizens
to focus their anger on lest they begin to question
(06:06):
Ingsock itself, but also as a window into the inner
thoughts of Winston's journal, explaining this dark society to us
as he dares to commit thought crime in doing so,
also his dreams and desires and his adoration for Julia,
(06:26):
but also the fatherly affection of a brine. And this
is all something which I think was missing from the movie. This,
this internal monologue. It is something that I think that
the movie was really lacking. The set, designed by Josh McIntosh,
expands beyond the dark and barren industrialized Grastland as Winston
(06:48):
and Julia attempt to live a normal life. The classically
designed apartment folds out from the side of the stage,
completely at odds with everything else. It's this one place
of homely warmth, and love. When not in the apartment,
it is closed off to us once more, and we
(07:08):
return to the brutal reality of a slave society under
the thumb of their masters, enhanced by the drab plane
and intentionally jandalist costume choices of just plain overalls. Now,
while Michael Waally did seem a little too healthy for
(07:30):
how I've always pictured Winston, he plays the part magnificently.
He's a meek coward fueled by his own his own
certainty that things shouldn't be this way, someone who wants
to be free, as his instinctually knows he should be,
regardless of what the party order him to say. You know,
(07:53):
Chloe Bayless is spot on aus Julia. She's young, she's beautiful,
she's liberated, and she's full of life in almost always
completely the opposite of Winston, but someone who needs to
suppress all with these qualities when her own instincts simply
desire to be a woman and to be loved as one.
While David Whitney as O'Brien is also great, portraying that
(08:17):
balance of the paternal care which Winston sees in him,
but also the weathered authoritarianism of a party official, now
as much of a slave to Big Brother as the
rest of them. It's horrific and depressing. Nineteen eighty four
wasn't a science fiction story which accurately predicted leaps and
(08:39):
technologies so much as it accurately depicts humanity's failings. Insock
might be the noose to hang everyone with, but the
people of Oceania allowed their necks to be put into
that noose in the first place. It's a totalitarian regime.
It doesn't simply want to control the masses. It wants
(09:02):
some masses to love the boot as it crushes on
their necks. Now shaken Ster Theaters bring this terrible vision
of a potentially not too distant future to the stage
perfectly with incredible production and a small, yet talented cast.
George Orwell's magnum Opus is brought to life in vivid detail,
(09:22):
and as someone with a great love for the novel,
I wholeheartedly recommend it now nineteen eighty four is well.
I saw it as part of the national tour which
is going on. I saw it at the Comedy Theater,
but that production has actually wrapped up by now, wrapped
(09:43):
up on the sixth. But there's going to be a
national tour to follow, so for tickets and showtimes, I'd
recommend checking out Shake and Stir, dot com, dot Au
and yeah I, especially if you're found in nineteen eighty
four the novel, I highly recommend checking out this really,
(10:05):
really well put together theatrical production
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