WATCH BIG BROTHER IN ACTION IN `1984' ORWELL'S CLASSIC ADAPTED FOR STAGE.Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic This is not your father's George Orwell Noun 1. George Orwell - imaginative British writer concerned with social justice (1903-1950) Eric Arthur Blair, Eric Blair, Orwell . Rather, the staged adaptation of Orwell's novel "1984" at the Actors' Gang bears the stamp of its adapter, Michael Gene Sullivan, and certainly of its director, Actors' Gang leader Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American Academy Award-winning actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon, with whom he shares liberal political views. . As is the case with the majority of productions that come out of the Gang now thriving in a new venue, Culver City's Ivy Substation this means difficult, topical and insightful material that sacrifices none of its theatricality to make a point. Several points, really, and much fodder for post-play rethinking. A man named Winston, who seeks to break free of the too-watchful gaze of Big Brother and the Thought Police, is captured and tortured, prodded to admitting his rebellious thoughts. The interrogation interrogation In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S. room designed by Richard Hoover and Sibyl sibyl (sĭb`ĭl), in classical mythology and religion, prophetess. There were said to be as many as 10 sibyls, variously located and represented. The most famous was the Cumaean sibyl, described by Vergil in the Aeneid. Wickersheimer is a three-sided, slate-gray space suggestive of suggestive of Decision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. a converted locker room. A face peeks out periodically via a few strategically located TV screens. Winston (played by Brent Hinkley) is apparently a rebel of no small importance. Or perhaps the chains and shock treatment represent the manner in which all residents of Oceania who would challenge Big Brother are to be treated. Regardless, Winston's history, the chronology leading up to his capture and his ultimate fate are compellingly rendered. And with great thrift. Besides Hinkley and Keythe Farley (as underground rebel leader O'Brien), Robbins employs just four other actors in multiple roles as the various party members who are beating Winston down or enacting the people he meets in flashback flash·back n. 1. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use. 2. A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience. . Kaili Hollister shines as Julia, the worker who seeks subversion via sex and love, but who may also prove to be a spy. There's a strong connection between Hollister and Hinkley as well as between Hollister and Brian T. Finney, who occasionally steps in as Winston in memory scenes. Robbins brings an assured tenderness and real heat to the love interludes. They're a smooth counterpoint to the angry, more urgent goings-on. Oceania, it will be remembered, is at war, although whether with Eurasia or East Asia East Asia A region of Asia coextensive with the Far East. East Asian adj. & n. appears to be entirely at the changeable whim of Big Brother and the Thought Police. "1984," a critique of totalitarian oppression written in 1948, may play more vividly in adapted form than it currently reads as a novel. Robbins is reportedly working on a new film version (and we haven't had one of those since Michael Radford's film in, yep, '84). If his Actors' Gang version is any indication, Robbins might prove to be just the man for the cinematic assignment. Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com 1984 - Three stars Where: The Actors' Gang, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. . When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; through April 8. Tickets: $20 to $25. Call (310) 838-4264, or visit www.theactorsgang.com. In a nutshell: Dramatic, immediate and as topical as ever. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Brian T. Finney, V.J. Foster and Kaili Hollister portray denizens of Oceania in the Actors' Gang's adaption adaption see adaptation. of ``1984,'' playing in Culver City through April 8; Tim Robbins is directing the production. |
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