Sammy Tunis as one of the omnipresent telescreen broadcasters (back) and Gregory Konow as Winston Smith (front) in a brilliant adaptation and production of George Orwell’s chilling ‘1984.’ (Lucas Noonan)
The city of Oceania in 1984 is a happy and productive place—that is, if you believe the telescreen broadcasts which continuously proclaim how the city has surpassed yet another production quota; that their enemies are in full retreat on the battlefield; and that being part of a collective whole is what everyone desires. The telescreens are always on in every home and every public gathering place. As Winston Smith (Gregory Konow) explains, "You can turn them down but you can't turn them off." Oceania is ruled by the mysterious entity known as Big Brother and there seems to be nowhere he cannot see you or know what you're thinking about.
Winston is a middle-aged, nondescript man, who works as an editor at a news gathering organization (all content is very heavily censored of course). But as time has gone on and more and more societal restrictions have been put into place (such as the latest dictionary editions, which remove words from the English language instead of adding them), Winston has begun to exhibit a sort of rebellious streak—like buying objects from an antique shop that have no useful purpose, other than that they look nice, or writing down private thoughts in his diary.
Things radically change for Winston when he meets Julia (Enid Cortes), a beautiful young woman who outwardly follows the party line, but secretly and continually flouts the rules, particularly the no-sex pledge she has taken. Soon the two are frequently stealing away for periods of passionate bliss and very quickly fall in love. As Winston is beginning to revel in his newfound personal freedom, he and Julia make contact with a shadowy resistance movement, one determined to bring down Big Brother. But soon after the two pledge their loyalty to this underground, they are betrayed, forcing Winston into a mental, physical, and ideological battle for his very soul—for Big Brother wants nothing more than for Winston to love him unconditionally, no matter what it takes for that goal to be achieved.
Alan Lyddiard's adaptation of Orwell's novel (which contains at least some links to Russia under Stalin's regime) has brought forth a very chilling tale. Any hope of individuality and freedom is little more than a pipe dream—Big Brother is always 10 steps ahead of any form of protest, and one never knows who to trust. At the same time, those in charge (such as an official icily played by Dustin Olson) know that killing all who resist only leads to the creation of martyrs. What they seek instead is the crushing embrace of conformity and the blindness of obedience.
Interestingly, the characters are played in a way that is often emotionally flat, something that makes the play work all the more as it is in keeping with a society that discourages free thought or feelings of any kind. Indeed, some of the most effective sequences are the matter-of-fact discussions by some of the population, such as Syme (Aaron Paternoster), who is delighted with his dictionary work in eliminating words no longer considered useful, or Parsons (Nick Paglino) recalling how his 7 year-old daughter informed on a man because he was wearing a strange-looking pair of shoes ("He was probably a foreigner").
Joe Tantalo's direction is letter perfect, keeping the story moving smoothly, and the tension ever-increasing. Also strong are Hachi Yu's choreography and Rick Sordelet's fight direction, showing events ranging from passionate encounters, to deadly confrontations, to the endless speeches given by the actors playing the telescreens (Deanna McGovern, Katherine Boynton, Sammy Tunis, Scarlett Thiele).
Konow is perfectly cast as Smith, his ordinary-looking appearance suggesting an everyman in a society where the alternative to going along with the masses is more terrible than death. This is someone, old before his time, who finally finds something to believe in, only to have his few moments of independence cruelly snatched away, possibly forever.
Cortes works well as Julia, her youthful freshness and appeal offering Smith, and the audience, a few minutes hope for something good to come out of this world. Another standout is Olson who soullessly spouts the party line, believing in it with every fiber of his being, as he calmly and sadistically tries to get others to accept Big Brother.
The set, (Maruti Evans, production design; Dominic Barone, associate set design), basically a bare stage with a few props, appropriately fits the emptiness of the society and bleak future depicted. Original music and sound design by Andrew Recinos, and lighting (Wilburn Bonnell, associate lighting design) are excellent.
Also in the cast are Michael Tranzilli and Michael Shimkin.
1984
Presented by Godlight Theatre Company
59e59 Theaters
59e59 Street
Tickets: 212-279-4200 or ticketcentral.com
Information: 59e59.org
Running time: Approximately 85 minutes
Closes: April 26
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London newspaper The Stage.
