Brighton Fringe: Julia. After 1984 review

A striking testament to Orwell’s vision

‘We’re not allowed to perform this in our home countries,’ states director of Julia. After 1984 Tanya Polosina, speaking at the end of the performance on behalf of the Russian and Belarusian cast and crew who comprise this stunning production from Within Theatre.

Contrary to the drab dystopia conjured up by the original writing of Orwell, to my surprise I find Julia’s world, captured in Fringe’s Rotunda Theatre, as one littered with kitsch splashes of colour found in costume, props, and a multimedia stage. Unlike other portrayals I have seen, its visual irony perfectly captures the eerily blissful totalitarianism of Ingsoc.

The plot

Similar to Sandra Newman’s recent adaption, writer Karina Weidman retells the latter end of 1984’s story through the eyes of Winston’s fleeting love interest and dominant rebel, Julia. It begins with Julia (Sofia Barysevich) sprawled in Room 101, at the mercy of the returning O’Brian (Michael Tcherepashenets).

In a brilliantly minimalist portrayal, Room 101 becomes an ominous red triangle in the centre of blackness, its shape metaphoric of eye of Big Brother, which is also framed in a triangle, much like the Eye of Providence. Yet the eye is female, and its emotion cleverly changes from scene to scene, a telling indicator of Julia’s development to come.

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But ultimately, as the eye of Big Brother, it watches over not just the cast but the audience too. Indeed, Julia cleverly contextualises itself in the modern world when O’Brian gloats of the party’s ‘impenetrable’ borders. He quickly turns to the audience with the same manic, smug tone: ‘Boarders are an issue in Brighton I hear’, implicitly referencing the moral panic of illegal immigration, an evil he believes must be defeated. Such interaction occurs throughout and makes for an invigorating experience that maintains tension.

As a character, Julia had famously said ‘they [the party] can’t get inside you’ – a line that is later squashed as a fantasy. But this Julia is resilient, crafty, and whilst victim to O’Brian’s violence and manipulation, she seemingly avoids the lobotomy that is implied by her scar that appears in the original text.

Big Brother is all around us: 1985 and beyond

After her release from Room 101, the play becomes the gripping sequel it set out to be, following a different path where Julia is put through further turmoil, even whilst ‘fixed’. Now homeless, she finds refuge under the wing of her sister, Emma (portrayed by Anastasia Velique), who like O’Brian is depicted as a loyalist through a bizarrely bright appearance. Disillusioned with her sister’s perfect life, Julia subtly seeks revenge, as it was Emma who helped turn her in originally. Julia finds room amongst her new cleaning job to gather intel on Emma, who’s naturally melting face paint cleverly aligns with her soon-to-be downfall.

Her success in this arc drives her back towards O’Brian, climbing up the ranks to becomes his assistant. Not quite reformed as rebel, Julia has streak powerful enough to topple him too. This culminates through Tcherepashenets’ dramatic monologue that is almost reminiscent of Andrew Scott’s Jim Moriarty. Now donning O’Brian’s jacket and her own coloured boots, Julia takes his place, gaining power, but not autonomy – the rhetoric question is deafeningly loud – is Big Brother the only winner? Everyone is dis/replaceable, as she had noted earlier.

…is Big Brother the only winner?

A must watch

Lastly, I have not had a chance so far to draw attention to the brilliant sound, lighting, and the occasional breaks of obscure theatrical performance. This reaches its peak when Julia and her sister Emma fight an imaginary telescreen depicting Goldstein in a minute-long burst of flashing red, sweat, and screeching ambience. Similar intervals punctuate the play.

In condensed form, Withintheatre have put together a remarkably creative and engaging reworking of a cult classic which satisfyingly tears down a party that never faltered in Orwell’s original text. However, the takeaway remains the scarily prevailing relevance of it all.

You can catch Julia later this summer at the Omnibus Theatre in London on the 25^th and 26^th of July and at the Edinburgh Fringe.