What's On

Synopsis

“Big Brother is Watching You” – a phrase etched in history. Orwell’s prophetic novel remains a poignant commentary on surveillance, authoritarianism, and the fragility of truth. This play captures the essence of Orwell’s powerful message, urging audiences to question the boundaries of authority and the consequences of blind conformity. Set in a society ruled by the Party and its omnipresent leader, Big Brother, “1984” follows Winston Smith’s struggle against oppressive surveillance and thought control. Winston navigates a world where truth is subjective and rebellion is perilous. His clandestine love affair with Julia becomes an act of resistance, challenging the regime’s manipulation of truth and individual autonomy. “1984” is a stark exploration of the consequences of unchecked power and the fragility of individual freedom in the face of an all-seeing regime.

Synopsis

Hilary lives in seaside Sorrento with her father and sixteen-year-old son; Pippa is visiting from New York and Meg returns from England with her English husband. Three sisters, reunited after ten years in different worlds, again feel the constraints of family life. It is Meg’s semi-autobiographical novel, recently short-listed for the Booker prize, which overshadows their homecoming.

This lovely Australian classic is about expatriatism, our perception of home and the tensions that exist between those who’ve left and those who’ve stayed behind. It is about the responsibilities of family obligations and national ties, the rights to individuality within a clan and a country.

Warrandyte Theatre Company first staged this work shortly after it was written in 1990 and its subjects and characterisations have not aged. The focus on the family and the tensions arising from love, responsibility and guilt are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago. Similarly, the at-times, delightful and other times, frustrating contradictions inherent in Australian culture – from ‘having a go’ while cutting down ‘tall poppies’, to the obsession with certainty while celebrating exceptionalism – are still so present today.

Synopsis

This version of the Charles Dickens Classic story is set in a radio broadcast theatre in 1930s, but imagery and illusions will be included to evoke the scenes being played out by the voice actors.

The story tells of an English business man in Victorian times, Ebenezer Scrooge, whose miserly ways see him spending his Christmas Eve alone eating gruel and expecting the same of everyone else around him. At midnight he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley tells Scrooge of pending visitations from three other spectres, the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future, who will offer him the opportunity to avoid an eternity bound in misery of his own making.