He who controls the present controls the past, he who controls the past controls the future
- George Orwell
... the future is now.
- Free Theatre
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28 March - 7 April 1984, Free Theatre, The Arts Centre
1984 is the year of the book. Orwell's famous pessimist utopia has for years provided a kind of ominous landmark of a distant future. This future is now! In FREE THEATRE'S production the book of the year is brought to life. The story, plot and dialogues of the book are confronted with life in Christchurch New Zealand, 1984.
In the first half of FREE THEATRE'S own adaptation of the book the public is invited for an open night in the Ministry of Truth, the ministry of propaganda, culture and entertainment. Here it can watch the everyday work of the theatre cum ministry and can follow the rebellious love story of Winston and Julia. In the second half it can watch the careful education Winston and his colleagues in the Ministry of Love. And throughout Big Brother will be watching. He who controls the present controls the past, he who controls the past controls the future... the future is now. 
Orwell's vision was of a society where people are constantly watch [ed] and have no privacy, even in their inner most thoughts. Most people today believe that this has not come to pass. But we are setting out to show that the technology which allows this to happen is available and is being used. We are also saying that the power of the mass media as a means of manipulation is as strong as anything Orwell imagined. 
In 2020 a project Digitising Performance we interviewed Nansi Thompson and Stuart McKenzie to discuss the Future of Dystopia and their experience performing in this production 36 years ago, view above.
Winston and Julia are crushed because individual love is seen as an act of anarchy against society. But we ask if true love is possible even in our society, where people live by convention and fashion. 
Every social order creates its own reality which is backed up by propaganda, whether it is subtle or obvious - things like the work ethic, the marriage ethic and the desire for happiness and security. Any individual who stands out against these myths is treated with suspicion or down-right hostility. 
Every social order creates its own reality which is backed up by propaganda, whether it is subtle or obvious – things like the work ethic, the marriage ethic and the desire for happiness and security. Any individual who stands out against these myths is treated with suspicion or down-right hostility. 
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Reviews...in a play which contains copulation, defecation, vomitting, and torture in varying degrees of explicitness, some of the scenes become tedious. It should not be missed. It has something to say about the way those in power enjoy the use of power, sometimes at the expense of the citizens. I was left lamenting a lost opportunity 
1984 promotional sticker
Articles
The Christchurch Club of the privileged holds tightly together and clobbers anybody who threatens its exclusiveness. Nothing must ever change. Theatre and the arts are just another monopoly that has to be protected. 
Image of Peter Falkenberg directing
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