1984

To praise Northern Broadsides's production for being drab, dreary and dispiriting might seem perverse; but the fact that 1984 is all of those things is not just good, it is "double good". On a set the colour of cold porridge, five actors in blue boiler suits conjure George Orwell's ghastly vision of totalitarian terror. Behind them looms a huge screen across which flow animated pencil drawings in black and white, with occasional flashes of colour; images as fleeting as the history Winston Smith rewrites daily for the Ministry of Truth. Nick Lane's excellent adaptation is as spare and clear as Orwell's prose. The cast morph effortlessly, under Conrad Nelson's storytelling-inspired direction, between vivid characterisations and neutral narrator roles. Nick Haverson's Winston, now crushed, now defiant, finally defeated, is compelling and Kate Ambler manages to breathe raw life into the novel's unconvincing Julia, the love of his life, trampled by Big Brother.