George Orwell’s „1984“ on Stage
Hearing the year 1984 mentioned in any context tends to have a similar effect on many people: blurry yet unmistakably dark images of a dystopian authoritarian state surface almost immediately, leaving behind a lingering sense of unease
Even if most of our students have never read this literary masterpiece, after our theatre night out in Munich, at least around 60 of them have now seen a stage adaptation of it. What may previously have been vague and indistinct took on vivid, unsettling shape in the form of scenes presented by the American Drama Group on 26th March.
As ever, the cast impressed with their minimalistic use of props and effects. From scenes of torture that were particularly harrowing when simply listened to, to the hollow, slapstick-like figures who blindly carry out Big Brother’s every command — responding with a mechanical V-sign — all of us left the theatre with a much clearer sense of what George Orwell was trying to convey. And a happy end for all concerned was most certainly not part of his vision.
To lift our spirits and celebrate the fact that we can, today, count ourselves fortunate to live in a free and democratic society that holds human rights in the highest regard, some of us rounded off the evening at a pub with a round of karaoke — a welcome reminder that screens and sounds are far better suited to entertainment than to surveillance.
Christine Avram
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