1984

First may I say yet again a huge thank you to the wonderful front of house team at this very friendly drama society.  They are always very welcoming and the atmosphere in the foyer is warm and happy with photos displayed of their show1984 and previous shows.

Maldon Drama Group chose this time to produce a most challenging and disturbing play – 1984 written by George Orwell and adapted by Matthew Dunster.  Written in 1948 it remains as joltingly prophetic as ever. It  tells the story of Winston, an ordinary man living in a post-truth world where people, actions, language and even thoughts are controlled and when necessary deleted by the ruling party and their symbolic leader, Big Brother. Winston tries to rebel against the party and to create and record his inner life and a true record of his times. 

There is of course the love story all the way through this, with Winston and Julia, who think themselves safe and unseen whilst being watched all the time by Big Brother. In the end they both betray each other by simply speaking. Not an easy play to watch.

Paul Mackin as Winston Smith is superb in the role. His characterisation of Winston was spot on. Here was the ordinary man carrying on with his life and questioning everything about him He leaps from love to fear, from anger to confusion and when he is tortured we feel his pain. So much was the look on his face when he heard the sound of the rats, his worst fear, in room 101 that I had to look away when they put the cage on his face.

Julia is played by Heather Lucas who quietly takes him down the path of no return. Maybe a little more passion could have been shown on stage as I never really felt that the two of them were so desperately in love to give up their lives to The Brotherhood but well-acted and beautiful diction.

Another strong interesting performance by Carey Brown as O’Brien,  a member of the Inner Party who poses as a member of The Brotherhood, the counter-revolutionary resistance, in order to deceive, trap, and capture Winston and Julia.  Carey gave us a caring mother figure that turns into a monster with no feelings of remorse. A tough role for anyone to take on; well done Carey.

An ensemble of actors took on the other numerous roles. Each of them gave good characterisation and helped make this production an evening to discuss into the long hours later on in the evening. Maybe a little first night nerves from a few of them and a little quiet but nevertheless a very hard show to do.

The set was simple with two scenes side by side and use of the front area for other scenes. I’m not sure whether it sometimes worked having them in the field scene in front of the bedroom and maybe a curtain pulled in front might have helped to keep our imaginations working. The bird sounds were a bit loud and maybe could have been brought down a little so we could hear the couple speak. Some of the taped sounds made it hard to hear what the cast were actually saying. The four people behind me were moaning that they could not hear or understand what was being said. I know the acoustics in that hall are not that great but having so much recorded meant that clarity of speech was sometime impaired.

Lighting was as usual well thought out with spots either side to heighten the main characters and the middle light which represented the screen good too although I would have liked to have seen them turn this off when changing scenery and  the stage crew use the workers.

Costumes were good with everyone in blue boiler suits and the guards all in black looked very menacing – well done both of you. Good Props and a well-choreographed back stage crew who were quick and silent during all the many changes. Direction by Paul Warner was slick and imaginative with precision and timing.

This was a very thought provoking evening and I hope with all the hard work that has gone into this production that they get a larger audience in the last couple of days.

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