Fringe review: 1984, Pleasance Courtyard

George Orwell's apocalyptic future in 1984 has been staged many times and is a classic tale familiar to many with its fearful projection of a future world that still feels startling real. Its famous ideas of Big Brother is watching, Newspeak, Room 101, double speak and the idea that war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength, have the power to send a shiver down your spine .

Box Tale Soup’s production conveys that fear and ominous presence of a hidden force. It creatively uses puppetry to portray the compliant citizens and three actors to depict the duplicitous characters. So when Winston Smith is doing his job rewriting history, he is a puppet but when he secretly meets Julia for illegal relations, he is played by an actor. It's a neat idea and with the puppets made by the team out of recycled materials and with a passing resemblance to the puppeteer, it works a treat .

The three performers play out the story with great discipline and skill, and convey the terror of Room 101 with effective simplicity. We did not fully understand the use of metal struts manoeuvred around the stage but they appear to be defining the rooms. However, for a Fringe show, the staging is clever and innovative.

We applaud the call at the end to promote the show through word of mouth without leaflets. It is one of the curious features of the Fringe that we are leafleted to the extreme and venues are littered with abandoned leaflets. We understand the tradition and the need for promotion but in a modern post 1984 era, this company’s stance is surely the way forward.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

1984 plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 25 August, with further info here.