It’s always interesting to be reminded of what you ignore everyday. It’s also interesting to look at how in a world full of revolving technology, humans have not changed. It appears that everyone is searching for their own way to live a “normal” life. As such, there are many comforts in life that allow people to trust the powers at be, but at what point are our own “comforts” detrimental to us? Tim Robbin’s version of George Orwell’s, 1984, currently playing at the REDCAT, is unshakably relevant. Days after seeing the play adapted from George Orwell’s “1984″ by Micheal Gene Sullivan, it continues to creep under my skin.

From the word play, the coercion, and blind faith - you can see how this work was relevant in 1948, is relevant today, and unless something huge happens, for our foreseeable future. For those of you who may not know, 1984 is where the idea “ignorance is strength” or rather “ignorance is bliss” was capitalized. Where “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” Think you’re not a victim of this? Think again. It is used every single day in our vocabulary.

In the plays brochure they gave examples of “Doublethink,” which is the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind and accept them both at the same time. Although they use it in the play here is a list of words that are currently being used everyday in America today:

• The Department of War changed to the Department of Defence after World War II
• Missiles are “Peacekeeprs” or “Smart Bombs”
• Innocent victims killed by errant missiles are “collateral damage”
• Military alliances are “Partnerships for Peace”

The list goes on and I would like to add to it “The War on Terror” if I may. Language is such a powerful tool and if used in the wrong way can destroy unnecessarily.

The acting was great all around. Cameron Dye who plays Winston, must sleep very well after performing. Dye’s intensity throughout the entire play was so extreme that I was exhausted just watching him. You can feel all sense of hope or pride in society disappear as you watch every inch of his twitching, struggling, now fragile body begging for death.

Keythe Farley, is amazing. His monologue at the end of the play was so irritatingly wonderful. He lies straight to your face and believes the lie whole heartily. He’s the person who would just as easily shake your hand as spit in your face. He embodies “Doublethink” in one solid form. But, the reason why he does it so well, I felt like I knew this person. There was something about him that was so honest, that he literally had be crawling in my seat trying to restrain myself from screaming “2+2=4 you asshole!”

Brian T. Finney, (who plays “Winston” before he was captured and “1st Party Member”) and Kaili Hollister (who plays Winston’s lover “Julia” and “2nd Party Member”), play extremely well off one another. You can feel the tension and chemistry between them. Kaili seems to be able to switch from evil-sex vigilante to armed officer, in the blink of an eye. Finney’s portrayal of Winston gives you a beautifully hopeful contrast to Dye’s later destroyed version of the character.

V.J. Foster (”3rd Party Member” and “Syme”) and Steven M. Porter (”4th Party Member” and “Parsons”) dramatically represent the ying and the yang of the good Citizen. Syme is so over zealous about contributing to his party and Parsons’ is so concerned with following it that they both have lost any sign of humanity, rationality, or understanding. Both of them are trying to do what’s right with no thought of what’s RIGHT. One of my favorite moments it when they both play little, good citizen, annoying kids. It shows that although they can scream, they can also have fun. Throughout the play they both played an array of different characters, and each one felt real and well crafted.

Overall, I feel like this was an extremely difficult play to tackle and took a lot out of actors as well as the audience. The play is filled with so much confusion that it was hard to find any flow. Each actor plays a variety of different characters who switch back and forth seamlessly from one to the next making you have to constantly re-access the situation. The word-play and irrationality of the logic in the dialogue makes your head spin. The stage, which is very simply set, is used for almost any surrounding you can possibly think imagine. But, in the end, I felt as if the play spun itself into complete clarity and explained not only itself but also our current socio-political circumstance.

Tim Robbin’s definitely had a lot to cover and I think it took me about 3 days to really understand what a great job he had done. The play discusses how chaos creates control, and I think that the play was able to demonstrate how this is done. Our society is spinning and changing just as much as any character, prop, or dialogue in the play and the only thing that anyone can understand, is how tightly twisted our own knot of misconception is. We spend so much of our time worrying about being attacked, that we forget that we ourselves are attacking. We spend so much time pointing the finger at others that we never notice what we are doing to ourselves.

The play gives clarity to the repulsive traits of human nature. At first you think how easily the people you’re watching can be fooled and coerced, and then you look around you, at this moment in our lives, June 24th, 2008, and we’re no different. Language is the key to understanding and without that we’re lost and our society uses just as much “Doublethink” as the play. Almost every single news report, Bush address, and conversation is filled with the words such as “us” and “them,” which forces us to use language against ourselves, perpetuating the misunderstanding of what, or rather who, we are fighting.

Yet how does one escape? How can anyone fight the man behind the curtain, if there even is one there. What if you’re the one creating it? How comfortable can you be knowing that?

I highly recommend seeing this play while you can and hopefully reading the book before you get there. The show runs until July 6, 2008.

Schedule Tuesday-Sunday at 8:30pm and Saturday at 3:00pm as well.

You can buy tickets online here or call 213-237-2800.

The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater
631 West 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

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