1984: A Unique Theatre Experience returns to London later this year for a strictly limited 12-week run at Hackney Town Hall. George Orwell’s iconic dystopian novel is being reimagined by director Jack Reardon (Artistic Director of Stagecraft, one of Ireland’s largest and leading youth theatres), with a script adapted from George Orwell’s novel by Adam Taub.
The show is being produced by Pure Expression, a site-specific theatre company that reimagines classic stories in unique environments. They've previously worked with institutions such as the Grant Museum of Zoology, the Jewish Museum London and Manchester City Library.
1984: A Unique Theatre Experience last ran at Hackney Town Hall in 2023 between October and December. This updated version of the experience will expand upon the 2023 version of the show, with new AV elements and a new cast. The roles of O'Brien, Julia and Winston were previously played by Jude Akuwudike, Kit Reeve and Declan Rodgers.
Adam Taub, the Executive Producer of Pure Expression had this to say about the shows return:
This is a new iteration of the show and far more ambitious. We have a brand new cast and creative team that have created a bold new vision for the show. There will be innovative digital mapping, video projection and AV work from creators who have recently worked in the West End, including the Haymarket’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. This production of 1984 is more visceral and more challenging for the audience. Why do we continually return to 1984? Because it has never lost its relevance. Because its warning of a dystopian future is one that we can all too easily imagine today.
Jack Reardon, the director of 1984: A Unique Theatre Experience said the following:
Open your computer, search the news, scroll through Instagram, post on Twitter - what has the algorithm decided is best for you today? Is it real? Does it matter? Once you believe it to be true, isn't that what counts? It doesn't take much to equate Orwell's 1984 to our own 2024. Whether it's news coverage, the constant awareness of phone, web or surveillance cameras or the increasing volatility of global politics.1984 remains as iconic today as when it was first published, only now we don't have to look far to imagine Orwell's dystopian world. But it's not all doom and gloom.
When Adam invited me to be the director for the return, I immediately looked forward to inviting audiences into Hackney Town Hall and into a new world of ‘vigilance, eternal vigilance’. This production aims to give audiences an insight into what surveillance truly means, using the latest techniques in AV technology in an entirely original and innovative way. This is a site-specific, multimedia approach to the text, colliding Orwell’s world with our very own. The creative team that Adam and I have put together want to take the text to extraordinary new dimensions.
The show will be lit by Ben Jacobs, winner of the 2022 Offie award for Best Lighting Designer with Salome,
with Video and AV from Dan Light, whose video design was lauded in Sarah Snook’s West End performance of
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Munotida Chinyanga, sound designer and Ruth Badila, set and props designer,
complete the creative team.
1984: A Unique Theatre Experience runs from 1 October 2024 to 22 December 2024 at Hackney Town Hall. Tickets are priced from £24.50. To find out more and buy tickets, visit immersive1984.com
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