(MAR 29, 2023—GAINESVILLE, GA) Gainesville Theatre Alliance ends its 2022-23 season with George Orwell’s 1984, April 14-22 at University of North Georgia-Gainesville’s Ed Cabell Theatre.
This stage adaptation of Orwell’s classic dystopian world is true to the novel in which Orwell depicts a society where Big Brother is always watching—where everything that is not prohibited is compulsory. 1984 is a cautionary tale of an omnipresent government and a theatrical event that is both powerful and disturbingly provocative. Orwell himself once said, “I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe that something resembling it could arrive. The moral to be drawn from the dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: Don’t let it happen. It depends on you.”
The play is directed by GTA Artistic Director and Associate Director of University of North Georgia’s School of Communication, Film & Theatre Zechariah Pierce. The novel is surprisingly as topical to our current age as it was when Orwell published it in 1949. “At its core, 1984 is a story that continues to show its relevance,” Pierce said, “whether in holding a lens up to cultures of our past, or in how we continue to fall into patterns that reflect it in the current age.” Pierce’s vision for the show moves away from a political “us vs. them” statement and focuses on our society’s ever-encroaching relationship with social media. “I’m positing that we now live in a culture where we have become Big Brother and we are responsible for how it manifests in government,” said Pierce. “We have surrendered our freedom by giving power to those who can access our private lives at any time and use it to lord over us. Then we switch roles by taking the power ourselves and thusly abuse it. We’ve created a society in which we are all oppressed by the popular opinion of the day, and whosoever should go against it, will be immediately castigated and thrown out.”
1984 is adapted for the stage by Robert Owens, Wilton E. Hall, Jr. and William A. Miles, Jr., and will perform April 14-22 at UNG-Gainesville’s Ed Cabell Theatre, inside the UNG Performing Arts building. For tickets or more information, visit GainesvilleTheatreAlliance.org or call the GTA Box Office at 678-717-3624.