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Why take a group of obviously talented but young performers and saddle them with a difficult script – one that demands they become not just middle-aged but life-long victims of an oppressive, Stalinesque dictatorship?

Winston Smith endures unrelenting danger.

As Winston Smith (Oliver O’Shea) so often points out during the course of the play, the danger to him is real and unrelenting. Yet onstage, despite the eerie, horror flick-style music, the threat never seems imminent, which meant that watching people get beat up and electrocuted was uncomfortable for being a numbing rather than a terrifying experience.

With some notable exceptions – James Swanton does a brilliant turn as Winston’s co-worker, Syme – the acting is, in general, unconvincing. Winston and Julia (Sophie Ramm) would have been perfect if they were supposed to be the sappy young lovers of Romeo and Juliet; but as adults repressed by a brutal, murderous regime, their affair just didn’t hold.

Similarly, Lydia Onyett was outstanding when we thought she was just a seductive lady from Winston’s past – but when it turned out that she was supposed to be a fifty-something hooker their were audible giggles in the audience.

An ambitious performance, then, but one that fails to come off. Go if you like George Orwell’s work and want to see how it can be adapted for the stage.

Joanna Shelley