1984 is a futuristic novel by George Orwell about how life would be under “Big Brother”. Northern stage, a local acting group, performed it. He based the play on how he thought life would be like in 1984 and how it would be ruled. He thought everyone would be the same, act the same and have to be dressed the same emotions towards each other were forbidden. Northern stage went to Moscow produce parts of film this was played on the big screens to make the play more realistic and to give the viewer a better understanding of the play. Winston is a hero, he does not fit in and you can see the difference from the start.
He tries to go against Big Brother. Big Brother watches their every move there is no privacy. Winston dreamt of better places. Dreaming is band He meets Julia his love and turns her against Big Brother too! They are found out and they are tortured until they learn to love big brother and will follow its ways. 2 + 2 = 5 = I love big brother. 2 + 2 = 4 = I hate big brother. This shows that they are not allowed their own opinion. The set of the play was simple but effective. There were two large white screens, which stayed on the whole time.
This was very good it meant that they did not have to change the set very much in between scenes. They changed positions for different scenes. They were plain white so your attention wasn’t on them they divided up the stage they also had to be white or a light colour to suit the neutral colouring of the characters clothes and so that the film could be projected on to them. The characters wore simple clothing; brown overalls and the women wore a red sash around their waists. These clothes showed that they were no one important and the brown was a dull colour to represent their dull lives and lack off identity.
They made sharp simple movements to emphasise their strict life style. At some points in the play they remained still e. g. when the film was on in the background. This showed how they listened to the rules. The lighting was plain white lights, which they flashed when there was danger e. g. when Julia and Winston got caught. These simple lights showed the simple life style. “Big Brother” was not shown. It was a “thing” known by the characters. The big screens sometimes showed what Big Brother was watching. This was a good way of saying that ‘Big Brother is watching you. ‘ We were left in to guess who was who.
Everyone moved in an order apart from Winston, the ‘rebel’. He moved how he liked and spoke how he liked which showed that he didn’t care about the rules. All the characters sounded like robots, whereas Winston spoke with a carefree attitude to show that he didn’t want to live by the rules. At various points in the play he showed his emotion in the way he spoke. The music and sound effects used set the scene in a way. There were sudden bangs when and whenever Big Brother came on it had the same music. There was also the same music when any people with authority came on the scene.
E. g. O’Brien. This showed their status. The torture scene was very gruesome cries and murmurs were heard while images of Winston being beaten appeared. Winston hated rats and so when he was being tortured at the end they played sounds of rats squeaking were added. They had different levels by using the screens to stand on the back of. The shop owner (Mr Carrington) stood up there, which showed status over Winston. Also at the end when they were torturing Winston, he was lying in a box and the man was standing over him. This showed how the man had won.
