HYDERABAD: Thought Police. Big Brother. Knowledge is Power. Cold War. These coinages have seeped so deep in the linguistics that they are frequently used by even those who haven’t read the book where these neologisms have come from. Well, we are talking about British author and journalist George Orwell. More importantly we are talking about his political thriller ‘1984’. Even 68 years after this book was published, it’s as relevant today as its perception.
Orwell saw the future and described it. Future controlled by ‘Big Brothers’, the constant vigil on thoughts, no chance to escape – well, this is what social media and ID cards have done to the present generation. The novel has been staged as a play in several countries. It’s noteworthy that in ‘changing times’ of our country the play was staged by Lord Chamberlain’s Men at Lamakaan recently.
The play began with the central character Winston Smith sitting at a writing-table scribbling something in a diary. A few other characters from the present generation surround him trying to understand how he documented his thoughts safe in writing for the posterity to discover. The scene changes and the protagonist is left alone on the stage with a tele-screen shouting something at him. From the background a strong voice emanates saying: ‘Big Brother is watching you’. A flustered Winston is seen writing in the diary again. The scene changes and he sits with other men, while a girl Julia comes and notices him who later becomes his beloved. As the drama unfolded they both become victims of doom for having thought to rebel. They are caught by the ‘Thought Police’ and tortured so much so that there are attempts to delete their memories.
The plot moved smoothly but two hours for a play is a long time. At the same time Winston is a character of contrast – he is both strong and vulnerable. It takes much to break him physically, but psychologically easier when he’s exposed to his worst fears. The actor playing the role of the protagonist couldn’t bring the stronger side of the character, his intellect that foresaw what posterity might lose if the events during his life-time are not recorded in writing. Why it was important for him to write was because the written words were being destroyed, language stripped naked of words which were constituents of its very existence. Winston’s strength as a visionary wasn’t brought on the stage. In the novel, Orwell shows him at his best while he’s writing his diary for the posterity for things that once existed. His eyes had a different shine even when he was continuously under surveillance.
However, the actor brought the vulnerability of the character well including the tenderness he shows towards Julia, his beloved and a party member. The strongest character in the play turned out to be O’Brien whom Winston and Julia befriend thinking he’d support them in their rebellion. His maliciousness does justice to what Orwell wrote. His jaws set, he appears tormentor from hell as he interrogates Winston.