Paper Zoo stage director Stuart Davies talks about bringing Orwell's bleak vision to the stage – and bringing John Hurt on board.
Bringing 1984 to the stage
"What drew Paper Zoo to stage an adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four? I suppose we share, like many people today, an appreciation of its relevance. Its message is that unless we are vigilant, the society it depicts is always just around the corner."
"It’s true that the Britain of today seems a long way from the brutality and bleakness of Oceania. Orwell’s nightmarish vision was written in the aftermath of World War II, so much of the book’s imagery – the austerity, the bombed-out cities, the missile attacks on London - is taken from this period, and its political models, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, are based on examples of recent and contemporary totalitarian governments."
"But telling resonances between Orwell’s fiction and today’s reality do exist. They include the level of surveillance to which Oceania subjects its citizens, the ability of the government to wage war with seemingly little democratic control and, reminding us of Newspeak, the manipulation of language by government spin and the media."
"Paper Zoo’s approach to Nineteen Eighty-Four (adapted by Alan Lyddiard) is to use live stage action combined with film to recreate the claustrophobia of constant surveillance, the cynicism of those who exercise power for its own sake, and the levels of cruelty which governments are sometimes willing to inflict on their citizens."
Getting John Hurt on board
"As a company, we batted around several ideas of how exactly to portray the rather ominous character of Big Brother. He represents so much. Somebody suggested using John Hurt as a very flippant remark – but we thought it was worth an ask."
"After only three weeks, we received a reply from John’s agent who said he was available the following day. It was obviously quite a daunting event, but he had obviously been keen to work with us and revisit his involvement with 1984."
"As John arrived, smiling and eager to get on with the job, we explained exactly why we were staging the production and what we would like to achieve from John’s involvement. He rather liked the idea of Winston becoming Big Brother – or at least one actor portraying both roles within a period of 25 years."
"John explained how he saw the character of Big Brother, listing some qualities including fatherly, comforting, trusting, powerful and yet extremely unsettling. After speaking with Martin about whether this is what we had in mind, he sat and delivered on every level. He was a true professional and after only an hour we had pretty much got it in the can."
"He was a joy to work with and a real pleasure to have on board."
The stage director
Stage director Stuart Davies. "1984's message is that unless we are vigilant, the society it depicts is just around the corner."
Filming with John Hurt
John Hurt with Paper Zoo's Ben Eagle (left) and Martin Knowles (right).