The latest stage adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, co-written and co-directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, is literally making audiences sick. The Washington Post headlined its story about the US production ‘Audiences of Broadway’s graphic portrayal of “1984” faint and vomit.’ Vulture critic Christopher Bonanos described the torture scenes as ‘visceral, ghastly, and hair-raisingly vivid.’
The play stars Tom Sturridge and Olivia Wilde, who reportedly both broke bones during the previews. Macmillan told the Hollywood Reporter, ‘We’re not trying to be wilfully assaultive or exploitatively shock people, but there’s nothing here or in the disturbing novel that isn’t happening right now, somewhere around the world: people are being detained without trial, tortured and executed. We can sanitise that and make people feel comforted, or we can simply present it without commentary and allow it to speak for itself.’