Theatre Pro Rata's "1984" is not for the faint-hearted. From the moment audiences are presented with a limp shackled body center stage as they enter the theater to the final chilling denouement, this production delivers George Orwell's classic dystopian novel as a visceral jab to the guts. And the fact that it's a brilliantly executed punch doesn't make it any easier to endure.
Since "1984" was published, during the early years of the Cold War, terms like "doublethink" and "thought police" have become common parlance. The world Orwell imagines, in which a small, totalitarian elite uses rabid nationalism, manipulated perceptions and fear to subjugate a society, can be seen writ large in North Korea today. In our own country, arguments about surveillance and privacy are invariably tinged with the Orwellian subtext that "Big Brother is watching you".
Theatre Pro Rata's production of "1984," crisply directed by Carin Bratlie, is powerful precisely because it gives raw and immediate life to the novel's familiar intellectual arguments. Michael Gene Sullivan's stage adaptation begins with Winston Smith's interrogation. As he remains stationary, shackled in a box that bears the legend "Ignorance is strength," a disembodied voice questions him relentlessly. The trajectory of his relationship with Julia and their tentative move toward rebellion are relayed by four Party Members who act out his diary entries.
Grant Henderson gives a starkly focused performance as the tormented Winston. Virtually immobile at the center of the stage, he demonstrates a nuanced blend of defiance, sorrow and resignation as he watches and comments on the re-enactment of his story. William Goblirsch, Emily Dussault, Brian Columbus and Kory LaQuess Pullam bring texture and color to the production as Party Members who take on the roles of Julia and various friends and associates of Winston. Columbus, in particular, adds some welcome leavening to the grim proceedings as his character struggles to suppress his exasperation with the entire exercise.
John Middleton is masterfully sinister as the Interrogator, who is only an offstage voice in the first act and then an actual stage presence in the second. The juxtaposition of his soothing, almost paternal vocal patterns with his seemingly casual application of torture immediately ratchets up the tension of this production. Indeed, the last ten minutes or so of the play are difficult to watch as he completes his total destruction of Winston's humanity.
Theatre Pro Rata's "1984" ably balances two outstanding performances and a nicely modulated ensemble to present a battle of wills that is both riveting and devastating. It's an impressive, if often horrifying, production.
Lisa Brock writes about theater.
