George Orwell is, in my opinion, greatly under celebrated, hence my excitement when I came across the name of this production at Trafalgar Studios in Whitehall. Orwell: A Celebration is a lively programme of short playlets; consisting of the acclaimed monologue version of Coming Up for Air (a lesser known but still highly compelling Orwell novel), which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival last year, followed by dramatisations of two essays, Shooting an Elephant and A Hanging, both of which are recollections of the authors experiences as an imperial policeman in Burma, with the evening being finished off with the chilling ‘Ministry of Love’ scene from Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Despite the inevitable difficulty of pulling off such a production, the transition between the acts seemed to work remarkably well. Stagecraft was minimalist to say the least, with only an assortment of blocks being used, although sound was used powerfully throughout, as were projected images in the second half. Hal Cruttenden’s performance as George Bowling, the middle-aged suburban protagonist of Coming Up for Air was certainly praiseworthy: despite this being a monologue piece, Cruttenden’s skilful performance had the effect of the audience member being able to picture the entire scenes around him, which was remarkable in the context of the stage. The austerity of the bare stage encouraged our identification with Bowling and emphasised the empty blandness of the life of West Bletchley which he seeks to escape. Praise is also due to Ben Porter and Alan Cox, who perform in the roles of Winston and O’Brien respectively, in addition to narrating the adapted essays; both comfortably rise to the challenge of performing effective solo pieces whilst also pulling off a moving performance in the Nineteen Eighty-Four extract. I suggested to a friend that the increased stagecraft, primarily in the form of sound effects, worked to this last act’s advantage; however, in his view these elements of the staging made the scene more superficial: a useful reminded that all literature, and especially Orwell’s, is widely open to our individual interpretations.

Naturally, in order to fit so much into the space of a few hours, drastic cuts have been made. Unfortunately, with Coming Up for Air, this seemed to be somewhat at the expense of a good deal of the novel’s comic value; also lost was some of the dread communicated in the novel with regard to the onset of totalitarianism on the world. Nevertheless, the evening certainly gives a broad view of Orwell’s writing and his meditations on the states of the world and society, which will always have great relevance. I left feeling the production deserved better than the small studio space it was allocated, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone wishing to broaden their experience of Orwell’s works beyond the staple of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.