1984 at Cambridge Arts Theatre

★★★★

“As he twitches and screams, the audience responds with a petrified silence at the horror. It is a deserving accolade for Quartley’s stunning performance”

Marking seventy-five years since the first publication of George Orwell’s sensational dystopian novel, Ryan Craig newly adapts the work for the stage in this production directed by Lindsay Posner.

On entering the theatre, a huge screen at the rear of the stage is projecting images of members of the audience as they take their seats. Initially I am unsure whether the coverage is live or recorded until I am picked out on screen scribbling down these very notes. This is not a playful kiss-cam but something much more sinister: Big Brother is watching you. And if we are in any doubt of this at all the telescreen is in the shape of a giant eye (Justin Nardella designer).

Winston Smith (Mark Quartley) works in the Ministry of Truth where he abets the totalitarian state’s control of the past by rewriting historical records and airbrushing former heroes into insignificance. Dressed in the official uniform of blue overalls and black boots, he already looks worn-out. And he has a secret… despite living under the constant scrutiny of telescreens, spies and informers, he has purchased a vintage journal in which he is writing down seditious thoughts. This is brilliantly portrayed in retrospect, behind gauze at the rear of the stage, almost as a dream sequence.

Winston catches the eye of co-worker Julia (Eleanor Wyld) who proudly wears the red sash, somewhat ironically we will discover, of a member of the anti-sex league (and, therefore, almost certainly not to be trusted, says Parsons). They begin an affair in which their illicit trysts are rare moments of colour in a production in which all else is in different shades of grey. A beautiful projected backdrop of the sun’s rays peeping through into green woodland has an unreal quality about it which emphasises the fantastical nature of their impossible relationship. Julia’s naivete is summed up with her line, “They can’t stop me loving you”, because, of course, they can.

It’s a shock to come back after the interval for Act II. The backdrop is now a huge steel wall, the face of Big Brother faintly etched upon it. Parsons (David Birrell) is lying on the floor of his prison cell, his clothes soiled, his body disabled, his mind broken. It’s a fine performance from Birrell and a brilliant transformation; Parsons’ earlier joy and ebullience replaced with fear and desperation.

Winston’s interrogation is one of the most gruesome scenes I have ever seen on stage. O’Brien (Keith Allen) interrogates with a driving patience, so confident that he will win however long it takes and his suppressed brutality is chilling. Live aerial shots of Winston’s torture are projected onto the back screen as his body is electrocuted again and again. As he twitches and screams, the audience responds with a petrified silence at the horror. It is a deserving accolade for Quartley’s stunning performance.

But there is a limit to how much we can bear and Winston facing up to his ultimate fear in Room 101 is performed in a total blackout. O’Brien’s audio description of the terrors within is almost drowned out by the sounds of Winston’s screams and, despite the blackout, the scene is close to unbearable.

As well as the actors on stage, there are recorded elements from other named characters shown only on screen and the technical aspects of this production are of high importance. With so much going on, both on stage and on the telescreen and with recorded files as well as live camera action, it is sometimes hard to see where to focus the attention.

The necessary abridgment of the text means the love affair between Julia and Winston doesn’t entirely convince, nor the ease with which they commit to betraying themselves to O’Brien. But the production as a whole and Mark Quartley’s performance especially will live long in the memory. As the state continually rewrites the dictionary, removing all unnecessary words from usage, I am only left to say that this production is double-plus-good.

1984 at Cambridge Arts Theatre then UK Tour continues

Reviewed on 22nd October 2024

by Phillip Money

Photography by Simon Annand

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE HISTORY BOYS | ★★★★ | October 2024

REBUS: A GAME CALLED MALICE | ★★★ | September 2024

CLUEDO 2: THE NEXT CHAPTER | ★★ | March 2024

MOTHER GOOSE | ★★★★ | December 2023

FAITH HEALER | ★★★ | October 2023

A VOYAGE AROUND MY FATHER | ★★★ | October 2023

FRANKENSTEIN | ★★★★ | October 2023

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION | ★★★ | March 2023

THE HOMECOMING | ★★★★★ | April 2022

ANIMAL FARM | ★★★★ | February 2022

1984

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

★★★★

“at an unsettling, anxiety-inducing pitch, the play takes us to the darkest corners of our society”

In small town America, Sam (Michelle Fox) and her husband John (Mark Quartley) have a thing for guns. ‘Thing’ as in obsession: they can’t leave the house or sleep without one. ‘Thing’ also as in fetish: the cold steel plays a prominent role in their sex life. Sam was kidnapped when she was thirteen. Someone with a gun rescued her. Guns are her comfort and her safety.

But one night, John accidentally shoots Sam in the arm during a sex game, and they decide to cut guns out of their lives completely. This is easier said than done when Sam’s brother Scotty (Nima Taleghani) comes to stay with a full arsenal, and the news reports a local girl, Jessica, has been kidnapped. All of Sam’s unresolved emotions come flooding back. Under the pressure, cracks spread through Sam and John’s marriage, Sam’s mental stability, and their gun-abstinence pact.

Far from being simple gun control propaganda, Sarah Kosar’s Armadillo is bold enough to delve into an issue most of us want to see as black and white. At an unsettling, anxiety-inducing pitch, the play takes us to the darkest corners of our society: where young girls are kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered. Where even the staunchest anti-gun activists might catch themselves thinking, ‘if I’d had a gun…’

The design team submerges us into the nightmare, creating a paranoid fever-dream of flashing neon lights and pulsing, hallucinatory blackouts (Jessica Hung Han Yun), sharp sounds (Anna Clock), and disrupted media projections (Ash J Woodward). Like ticking bombs, the constant, ominous presence of guns keeps the audience on edge throughout the ninety minutes. Stuffed in couch cushions, under pillows, in the freezer, firearms are littered throughout Jasmine Swan’s clever, intriguing set. Raised platforms display a deconstructed house (a mattress, a toilet), encircled by calf-deep water.

Kosar impressively interrogates the complexity of Sam’s trauma as she struggles with whether she’s justified in being as damaged as she is. “Nothing really even happened!” people love telling her, since her kidnapper threatened but never touched her. However, John and Scotty are noticeably shallower characters. The dialogue between the three of them is uneven, awkward, and unnatural, which carries over into Fox, Quartley, and Taleghani’s delivery. It may be a stylistic choice by Kosar and director Sara Joyce as part of the uncomfortable, surreal aesthetic, but the stilted lines prevent the characters (even Sam) from feeling like real people, which makes them difficult to connect with.

There’s plenty of sharp observation in the play’s themes of addiction, enabling (and the guilt that motivates it), coping with trauma, toxic relationships, fetishising violence, and self-destructive behaviour. Armadillos famously jump when scared, which often results in them being hit by cars that would have harmlessly passed over them. Their defence ironically puts them in more danger. It’s a shrewd analogy for the way Americans reach for automatic weapons in search of safety.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Maurizio Martorana

1984 at Cambridge Arts Theatre

★★★★

“As he twitches and screams, the audience responds with a petrified silence at the horror. It is a deserving accolade for Quartley’s stunning performance”

1984 at Cambridge Arts Theatre then UK Tour continues

Reviewed on 22nd October 2024

by Phillip Money

Photography by Simon Annand

Previously reviewed at this venue:

1984

1984

The Yard Theatre

Reviewed – 5th June 2019

★★★★

“at an unsettling, anxiety-inducing pitch, the play takes us to the darkest corners of our society”

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Maurizio Martorana

Armadillo

The Yard Theatre until 22nd June

Previously reviewed at this venue: