Review: 1984, Hackney Town Hall
Photo credit: Maggie Jupe
Hackney Town Hall is a magnificent setting for Pure Expression’s 1984 but despite great design, the production lacks the tension and menace of George Orwell’s book.
If you have booked to see Pure Expression’s 1984, be sure to take advantage of the bar being open 30 minutes before the start of the “assessment“ (as the company members refer to what is to come – this is an “experience” after all). Hackney Town Hall’s three storey high atrium is atmospherically kitted out by Ruth Badila’s set and design with a small stage, batteries of benches and red banners dripping down the walls. The background noise (sound design by Munotida Chinyang) has the hum of overheard conversations, interspersed with that recording of British Transport Police’s admonishment to “see it, say it, sorted“ reminding us that 75 years on from Orwell coining the term, we are all encouraged to be ‘Big Brothers’.
Banks of cameras are already running with videos projected on the back wall (video/AV design by Dan Light). Members of the cast engage with the audience, promoting membership of the anti-sex league or sitting down to murmur secrets. Once two women in peasant-chic outfits start singing “If I had a hammer”, then the sense of stepping into an totalitarian rally is complete.
The action starts with terrific use of a glass walled lift at the back of the atrium. The audience is then ushered through into the council chamber and told by the avuncular O’Brien (Dominic Carter) that we are there having been selected as potential members of Oceania’s Ministry. The purpose of the evening is to assess our suitability. This positioning of the audience serves two purposes. Firstly, to set up a number of collective and individual audience participation moments (“Stand up for Oceania’s national anthem.” “What number is on your badge?”). Secondly, it provides the context for O’Brien to brief us on the backstory, through asking questions that he goes on to answer. Compressing the novel to just 75-minutes requires a fair amount of exposition for anyone who is not familiar with the storyline and Jack Reardon’s direction keeps everything moving along briskly. But it does mean that this 1984 has rather more telling than showing.
Our first assessment over, we are told the next part will take place in the “observation room”, which turns out just to be back in the atrium. Here, we witness the two main characters’, Winston (Joe Anderson) and Julia’s (Neetika Knight), affair. It seems we are supposedly watching videos taken previously and capturing their clandestine meetings (O’Brien tests our powers of observation by replaying a section) but it is confusing to be watching the actors in real time whilst live film is projected onto the huge wall behind. To drive home the fact that they are under surveillance, for most of the action, two company members are also on stage following Winston and Julia and holding boom microphones closely above the heads. All of this technical paraphernalia makes it hard to focus on the actors and it is difficult to get a sense of just how much these characters are risking. The crucial moment when Winston declares that he would never betray Julia is not entirely convincing and a reveal at the very end suggests he was perhaps never sincere anyway.
Once the action shifts to Winston’s incarceration, the close filming and projection continues and again detracts from, rather than heightening, the agony he is going through. The dramatic climax in Room 101 of Winston coming face-to-face, metaphorically and literally, with his greatest fear presents little sense of his anguish at becoming a betrayer. A final moment of audience participation and we can leave as the assessment is over.
In the production notes, George Orwell is credited as the writer. Of the book he most certainly is, but it would be good to know how this “reimagining” of 1984 was developed.
Pure Expression’s 1984 emphasises the audience’s physical participation but it comes at the cost of its emotional engagement.
** Two stars
Reviewed by: Mike Askew
Pure Expression’s 1984 runs at Hackney Town Hall until 22 December, with further info here.
