"Brilliant."
Arianna Huffington

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"Stunning!" "Tripleplusgood!" "Incontestably superior to the 2017 Broadway production!" 

Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal

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"Vivid, unsettling... a masterwork of novelistic concision." 

American Theatre Magazine

 

"Sullivan does an exemplary job of distilling "1984's" political essence... to communicate the pointed richness of Orwell's thought... The Actors' Gang production "1984" knows how to clear a path for its trenchant, and still sadly undated, critique." 
Los Angeles Times

 

"Sullivan has resolved the challenges of Orwell’s novel by setting the entire play in one austere space... A dark room - deprived of all technical aspects, and without technological gadgets - but sufficient to recreate the atmosphere of mystery, anxiety, and the fear of the unknown, omnipresent, veiled oppressor." 
L'Apuntador (Barcelona, Spain)

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"If you do not know George Orwell, or what he wrote, and if you plan to spend an easy, relaxing evening in the theater, then we recommend you choose another play. This production will not leave you indifferent; your soul will echo with the depicted events., and it will make you intensely experience and reflect on the truth of what is shown."

Theare.love (Kiev, Ukraine)

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"Sullivan’s stage adaptation of Orwell gives us a rare opportunity to see our political world today for what it really is. “1984” illuminates our present political crisis. Don’t miss it!"

Theatrius

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"A really good playwright knows that the story he or she tells must have its own mark and its own shape. This is especially true when adapting a classic tale. If you hew too carefully to the original work, it risks being a pale shadow that adds nothing to the story. Thankfully, Michael Gene Sullivan knows this, and his adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 is its own creation, theatrical and compelling. He doesn’t simply engage in a linear staging of the book, editing out scenes and choosing dialog. Instead, he creates his own structure and changes the form of the original story. By taking this freedom from the novel, he is true to its events and themes, but transforms it into a highly theatrical piece."

Encore Michigan

 

"George Orwell's 1948 nightmare about democracy's descent into the hell of Big Brother government, mind control and absurdest cruelty erupts into reality on the REDCAT stage, using Michael Gene Sullivan's brilliantly condensed script to tell in flashbacks the familiar story of illicit love in a terrible future with power, pace, and horror." 
The Hollywood Reporter

 

"Sullivan's tightly-crafted, condensed script demonstrates an arresting approach to storytelling, whilst throughout retaining both the relentless clausrtaphobia of the original work and its shattering emotional impact." 
Glasgow Theatre Blog (Scotland)

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“Sullivan, best known as a stalwart of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, wrote the play 20 years ago, and it’s been staged all around the world already, but it definitely feels like a red alert for society right now.”

Mercury News

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"(The play) is a harrowing experience, ...Sad as it is to say, (Orwell) would find himself right at home and sick to heart in 2006. Ultimately, that is the point of this production." 
The Daily Breeze

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Michael Sullivan's adaptation subtly infuses the work with modern political rhetoric and smart dialogue. The play is complex, but very well thought out, and it shines through all of the performances...The real winner here is Orwell himself. His foresight and uncanny ability to predict the future that was a frightening possibility, and to us a shameful quotidian, is deeply resonant." 
Los Angeles Alternative

 

"You don't just watch to observe, you become implicated - as if sitting at Orwell's two-way telescreen to watch how long it takes Big Brother to break a man." 
World Socialist Web Site

 

"Finally, a stage version of 1984 that does justice to Orwell's original novel."
Lavender.com (Milwaukee)

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"This is not your father's George Orwell."
DailyBulletin.com

 

 

Available now from Playscripts.com

For information about producing

George Orwell's 1984

please contact
Florence Rees at
Florence.Rees@amheath.com
AM Heath and Co. Ltd.

By permission of the Estate of the late Sonia Bronwell Orwell.

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For a calendar of performances of 1984 click here