George Orwell Archives - North West End UK

24Jan

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Animal Farm – Octagon Theatre

George Orwell’s Animal Farm comes to life in a vivid and unsettling adaptation that thrusts the audience into the heart of a revolution. The barnyard is transformed into a stage where animals overthrow their human oppressors, driven by dreams of equality and justice. Yet, as Orwell so keenly observed, power has a way of corrupting even the noblest intentions. What begins as a hopeful uprising soon unravels into a chilling reflection of authoritarianism, manipulation, and the rewriting of truth. Olivia Chandler stands out in her dual roles, first as Mollie, the delightfully vain mare who steals the audience’s attention with her superficial charm, and later as Moses, the revivalist raven whose flamboyant performance oozes charisma and false hope. Meanwhile, Shoroosh Lavasani's portrayal o...

20Nov

By Anna Ní DhúillNo Comments

North West

1984 – Liverpool Playhouse

In a new adaptation of Orwell’s seminal classic, Theatre Royal Bath productions bring their take on 1984 to Liverpool’s Playhouse. Adapted for stage by Ryan Craig and directed by Lindsay Posner, the meticulous design of the piece means as soon as you enter the auditorium, you step into the authoritative, totalitarian world in which our characters cannot escape. Setting up the Playhouse as a panopticon is an exciting start to a story that has thrilled audiences since first being published in 1949. Sadly, once the houselights dim, the thrill that Orwell constructed is slowly deflated by a meandering, technology-reliant production. It is a truly difficult task to adapt a text that is held up as a modern classic, that the majority of the population has read before they reach their mid-t...

18Oct

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

1984 – Hackney Town Hall

George Orwell’s 1984 comes alive in this site-specific theatre production under the solid eye of Irish director, Jack Reardon. This immersive experience skilfully blends audience participation with the confined setting of Hackney Town Hall’s council chamber and atrium to underscore the novel’s themes of oppression and loss of individuality. The adaptation adeptly condenses the first half of Orwell’s novel, focusing on world-building and intrigue through an induction led by high-ranking Party officer O’Brien (Dominic Carter). A Big Brother rally, complete with patriotic singing, anti-sex league flyering, and party agents probing, welcomes the audience into the dystopian world where every word and movement are monitored under the ever-present eye of Big Brother. The initial slow burn a...

1Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Animal Farm – Hull Truck Theatre

When Snowball the angry, militant “pig” crept menacingly towards me, across the stage of Hull Truck Theatre on Thursday night, I began to think my front-row seat wasn’t such a good thing after all. I was at this popular local theatre to watch a powerful re-telling of George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm - a book I had never read, but, it being a classic, knew the storyline of. Thankfully, Snowball (Samater Ahmed) spared me, directing his anger at the farm’s owner and his master, Mr Jones. The way Jones ran Manor Farm was not to the animals’ liking nor for their benefit, so they overthrow him, take over and create a new set of rules in which “all animals are equal”. However, it soon becomes apparent that the cleverest farm animals are the pigs - Squealer (Killian Macardle), Napo...

27Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

1984 –Thingwall Community Centre

George Orwell’s dystopian novel, originally published in 1949, is a cautionary tale, drawing on the then recent insights into Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, examining the role of truth and facts within politics and the way in which they are manipulated. This dramatisation is constructed almost entirely from dialogue taken from the original novel. Winston Smith (Zoran Blackie) is in prison, found guilty of Thoughtcrimes against Big Brother. As part of his reconstruction, led by O’Brien (John Maguire), he must re-enact key moments from his past life, with the help of other thought criminals playing key characters including re-enacted versions of himself (John Reynolds) and O’Brien (Kate Mulvihill) as well as Parsons (Michael Silverman) and Charrington (Vicki Griffiths), so that everyo...

30May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Big Brother Is Watching You

Liverpool community theatre company, Thingwall Players, returns following a sold-out panto with an adaption of the science fiction classic Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, directed by Gateacre based director and playwright David Griffiths. The play will be staged at Thingwall Community Centre in Wavertree, 23rd to 25th June at 7:30pm. Tickets are £10 (£7 Concessions) and available from www.trybooking.co.uk/bpcr Winston Smith is in prison, found guilty of Thoughtcrimes against Big Brother. As part of his reconstruction, he must re-enact key moments from his past life, with the help of other thought criminals, so that everyone can learn from his mistakes. Including his biggest mistake of all: falling in love with Julia. George Orwell's classic dystopia Nineteen Eighty Four...

27Apr

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Animal Farm – Liverpool Playhouse

In a feat of technical brilliance and creativity, this show makes the impossible possible through exceptional puppetry and characterisation. A contemporary re-imagining of George Orwell’s classic text, this adaptation does not disappoint. Charting the rise of a fictional revolution and its aftermath, the plot of Animal Farm is just as relevant now as it was when first published, if not more so. Adults and children over 11 years are best-placed to engage with this experience. This is not a tale for the feint-hearted. We begin with a bloodied farmer carrying carcasses across the stage, going about his daily business on Manor Farm. It quickly becomes apparent he’s not a pleasant character. The animals are scared when he’s around, treated as work units and considered expendable when they...

28Jan

By Annette NuttallNo Comments

West Midlands

Animal Farm – Birmingham Rep

This well-known story based on the book by George Orwell, studied by generations at school has taken to the stage in Birmingham. From the moment you walk into the auditorium you can tell this isn’t a happy go lucky play. The stage has a dark industrial feel too it, the pre-show action on stage reinforces the tone even further. Animal Farm tells the tale of animals on a farm who dream of days of freedom from their human oppressors. Following a stirring speech from an old pig, they plan a revolution. We follow their journey as all their best laid plans and intentions start to fade. Anyone who studied this at school will probably remember the story revolves round political ideals, leadership and control of the masses. This production manages to bring the story to life in a very visua...