Dark Orwellian vision to descend on Ulumbarra Theatre

THE dystopian, brooding themes of George Orwell’s unsettling 1949 classic, 1984, will come to life within Ulumbarra Theatre on Friday 22 August when Brisbane’s Shake & Stir Theatre Company lays bare its own adaptation of the acclaimed novel.

1984 has been one of the most influential and widely read books of the 20th and 21st centuries and was an instant bestseller in both the UK and US when it was first released, resonating due to Cold War tensions and fears of totalitarianism at the time.

Over the decades it’s never gone out of print and has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.

New Zealand born actor Michael Whalley, who plays quietly rebellious lead character Winston Smith (living under the watchful eye of Big Brother) in the production, said he jumped at the opportunity to be involved.

“I love the book, I love the story, and it felt like a really relevant piece for today,” he said.

“Everybody’s questioning the truth at the moment and that’s what this play is asking us to do.

“It’s asking us to look deeper than the things we’re being fed on our social media, on our screens, from our governments and our society and look for a little bit more truth so that we can make our own decisions.

“Theatre at the moment is going through a renaissance because people in the age of AI, we can’t even watch a movie without feeling like we’re being hoodwinked in some way.

“Sometimes that’s a great artistic choice, but I think audiences and humanity at the moment are searching for what’s real.

“Theatre in itself is doing that for people right now and that’s invaluable.”

1984 by George Orwell takes place on 22 August at Ulumbarra Theatre.

Tickets can be purchased via the Gotix website.