If you missed Company Carolina’s production of “1984” this weekend, you missed a fantastic piece of student theater — perhaps one of the best I’ve seen during my time at UNC.
Prior to watching the show, all I knew was that “1984” is a classic book that I’d never read, so basically I didn’t know much about the show at all.
On Saturday, I walked into the Swain Hall Black Box Theater about five minutes late, saw that the lights in the audience were low and that there was already a character, Syme, played by Lucyia Huang, on stage. Thinking the show had already started, I quickly sat down in a random seat but was redirected to my reserved seat in the front row.
About 10 minutes after the show’s scheduled start time, the disjointed, eerie music got louder, the audience lights lowered to black and Syme began to speak louder, allowing the audience to fully hear what she was saying. The music sent chills down my spine — or maybe that was just because it was cold in Swain Hall.
Then, the screens in the black box theater turned on, projecting live images of the audience. I was surprised, to say the least. Suddenly, the waiver that all the audience members had to sign before watching the show made sense, as Skyler Clay, the projections designer, showed off their amazing technical skills.
The dystopian world of “1984” was scary — it was sick and it was twisted. Seeing phrases like “Thought police,” “Freedom is slavery” and “Hate Time” introduced the totalitarian society that the characters live in.
With limited free speech, citizens received a dictionary of allowed words that got smaller and smaller with every version (shout out to Mia Lu on props). The characters were odd. They were blunt as they tried to survive the world they were in. Winston represented the vulnerability that hope and the idea of freedom bring into the world of “1984.” Throughout the play, main characters Julia and Winston tried to break free from Big Brother’s grasp but ultimately failed.
You can’t trust anyone in that society, and I think that was the point of the play. There wasn’t a true conclusion to the play: no one wins, Big Brother prevails and the audience was left comparing the sick society depicted on stage to the society that they live in. It is a warning against totalitarianism and the dangers of conformity. No one can win in that society.
Everyone had their standout moments — from The Guard, played by Irene Denniston, staring directly into my soul at the beginning of the show to Syme. Yes, just Syme. There is no specific moment I’m referring to; Huang just killed it from the moment she was on stage choking to death to her final moments with Winston.