ORWELL: The Road to 1984
Guy Smith talks about his new play
When I was about fourteen years old I read Down and Out in Paris and London. The book changed my life. It inspired me to be a reporter. After I left school I was very lucky to get a job in local radio and that led on to a long career first as a producer on Radio 4 and then as a producer/director in current affairs TV.
Over the years I’ve written several plays and when I saw the brilliant actor Mark Stratford perform one of his one-man shows I thought he’d make a great Orwell! Collaborating with him, ORWELL: The Road to 1984 is the fruition of a year’s research, development and rehearsing.
Expanding on Orwell’s words ‘when I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, “I am going to produce a work of art”. I write it because there is some lie I want to expose’ I believe that Mark will take audiences on a fascinating journey through the extraordinary experiences that shaped the work of this perceptive and compelling writer. Using Orwell’s words, we travel through many of the remarkable episodes in his life, including his time at a grim boarding school, being a police officer in colonial Burma, his adventures in Paris, tramping through England to live among the poor and underprivileged, and his extraordinarily close shave with death in the Spanish Civil War.
Moreover, we hope ORWELL: The Road to 1984 will be of interest not just to those who want to find out more about the life of this remarkable writer, but also students studying his books for GSCE or A-Levels. When I was fourteen I wish there was a play like this that I could have seen!
Our first performance will be at the Macready Theatre in Rugby at the end of March and then we’ll be touring the play to fringe festivals, studios and pub theatres over the months ahead and into next year. The details are:-
The Macready Theatre, Rugby Tuesday 24th March
Brighton Fringe Festival Friday 22nd May – Saturday 23rd May
Langton Green Festival, Tunbridge Wells Sunday 28th June
Camden Fringe/ Gatehouse Highgate 29th – 30th August
Cheltenham Fringe Festival Saturday 26th – Sunday 27th September
Other venues in London (including the The Jack Studio Theatre, Brockley, and The Questors Theatre, Ealing) and elsewhere will be opening ticket sales in the months ahead. For full details click here.
This sounds superb, all the best with the tour. I hope you will be able to bring the show to Newcastle upon Tyne. Northern Stage would be an ideal venue.
Thank you Brian for your good wishes for the play – much appreciated! Yes, we are already planning to bring it next year to other parts of the UK which we aren’t able to visit this time around and, all being well, Newcastle will be one of those venues.
Hello, is the play still scheduled to be performed at Ealing Questors theatre? I’ve been looking through their website and it hasn’t listed yet.
Dear Maxine, Many thanks for your enquiry and interest in ORWELL: The Road to 1984. Yes indeed, the play will be performed at Questors Theatre studio in Ealing, London from Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th November.
Here is a list of other venues currently confirmed for later this year and next:
Sunday 28th June Rotunda Bubble Theatre, Langton Green, Sussex
Friday 31st July The Old Pump House, Watford, Herts
Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th Aug Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate, London
Saturday 26th – Sunday 27th Sept Rotunda Bubble Theatre, Cheltenham
Tuesday 6th – Saturday 10th Oct Jack Studio Theatre, Lewisham, London
Wednesday 25th – Friday 27th Nov Questors Theatre studio, Ealing, London
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Wednesday 3rd February Quay Theatre, Sudbury, Suffolk
Friday 12th February The Stage at St Mary’s, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria
Thursday 18th February Ropery Hall Theatre, Barton upon Humber, Lincs
Sunday 28th February – 1st March Tabard Theatre, Chiswick, London
Saturday 6th March Seven Arts Venue, Chapel Allerton, Leeds
Friday 9th April Helmsley Arts Centre, Yorkshire
Friday 23rd April Southwold Arts Centre, Suffolk
Thursday 6th May The Corn Hall, Diss, Suffolk
Saturday 8th May Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs, Kent