Theatre Royal in Winchester production of '1984'

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Theatre Royal in Winchester production of '1984'

1984 Evaluation

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On the 19th November 2002 myself, and a group of year eleven students

went to the Theatre Royal in Winchester to watch a play named '1984'.

The plays main theme was about a society being treated unfairly and

not being able to have rights or individuality. It showed people being

extremely restricted on what they could do both physically and

mentally.

Watching it, it made me feel fortunate to have the rights I have and

that I am not constrained on what I can do. The director wanted you

when watching, to feel uncomfortable and distressed as you were

watching one individual being tortured. The more torture shown, the

more privileged I felt to possess the rights I do have. A variety of

techniques were used to enforce the powerful message this play

presented. At the beginning, a group of soldiers pointed at the

audience and shouted 'Die Die' continuously, which made you feel

threatened and also at the same time involved within the play.

The set was quite basic yet effective. All the scenes featured two

large wooden walls, which were moved for different scenes. These walls

were used as a technique to change scene. When a new scene was started

the walls would be spun round to illustrate a new scene, which was

very effective. Throughout the play short videos were shown for a

variety of reasons. These included: emphasizing a point within the

play, to give new information to the audience or to add to the

dramatic effect of a particular scene.

Various lighting techniques were used including a spotlight. A

spotlight makes you focus on one particular part of the stage where

usually a scene is being acted. A spotlight can add tension and

increased dramatic effect to a scene, for example when soliloquies are

used. An additional lighting method used was to flash bright lights at

the audience to illustrate a scene change. This was very effective as

afterwards a new scene was taking place. As well as lighting

techniques, the props used were very successful in making the scene

more exciting and attention grabbing. One prop used was a counterfeit

electric chair. In this scene the main character was being tortured

using the electric chair. The smoke and sounds the chair was making

made the scene even more dramatic and made you sympathise with him

even more.

The main characters included a man named Winston, and a woman called

Julia who has already had already a couple of illegal love affairs.

Both characters were deprived of their rights and wanted the same

thing, freedom.

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