Big Brother should have watched LWA’s ‘1984’

Upper School students at Lawrence Woodmere Academy performed a play, “1984” based on the novel by George Orwell and adapted by Robert Owens, Wilton E. Hall Jr. and William A. Miles Jr. The students performed two shows one Jan. 6 and another on Jan. 7 in Hessel Hall on the Woodmere school’s campus.

Published in 1949, “1984” is considered one of the great dystopian novels in literary history. Dystopian is a society characterized by human misery, including oppression, which is the focus of Orwell’s story.

The play, like the novel, tells the story of Winston Smith, a man who desperately seeks freedom of speech, thought and action in a world where Big Brother watches everyone through the ubiquitous telescreen.

LWA’s production was directed by Upper School English teacher Kathleen Glasberg and Lower School music and drama teacher Michael Piedmont did the sound design.

“The cast researched extensively and presented excellent PowerPoints on every aspect of Orwell’s life and the ideas in the novel, as well as the historical context,” Glasberg said. “The students loved the book, and I wanted to capture that same power in the stage version.

The cast was comprised of 13 students, including Josh Torres as Winston Smith, Jenny Lu as Julia, Smith’s love interest and Justin Green, who is one of two writers of the LWA Antics column, as Syme, a colleague of Smith’s at the Ministry of Truth.

“We have a very talented cast who has devoted countless hours rehearsing in a shortened time period,” Glasberg said. “This is the most serious show since ‘The Miracle Worker,’ but even more serious because of its dystopian quality and ending.”