1984 Review

As the audience walked into the Humanities Center ready to see the show, the cast of Samo’s "1984", could be seen already in character as they marched into the auditorium. The Samo fall play, "1984" opened on October 28 and closed on November 6; there were a total of five performances. 

"1984" was a great production by the theater program. Throughout the show, you could really see the emotion and passion when all of the cast members performed. The show had many fun comedic and mysterious parts like when Winston and Julia interacted with pole shopkeepers, O’Brien's deception and times when crimes were thought to be committed which created suspense throughout the audience. 

While watching the show, it was interesting to see the outfits the characters wore. The members of the party who work alongside Winston, the main character, wore red jumpsuits with black straps over them similar to the ones in “Squid Game”. Other interesting outfits include a unique orange-red coat worn by O'Brien, played by Tali Chase (’23). Cameron Davidson (’24) who played Big Brother wore a large mustache with a striped suit.

Standout performer Rebekah Raphling (’23), who played Julia, talks about the process of putting "1984" together and her opinion on how the show went.

“I thought the show was incredible, it got better each night. It was so creatively put together. The atmosphere of this dystopian world combined with the romance and some elements of comedy really was a great and unique adaptation of the script. Our ensemble really held the show together and the camaraderie among the cast and crew made the rehearsal process so much fun,” Raphling said. 

The book and this production of "1984" were really similar. Those who read the book before seeing the show generally would have a better understanding and expectation of what the show was about. This being said, for those who didn’t have prior knowledge before seeing "1984," the show may have been confusing. 

Gus Reyman (’23) was among those who came into the show without reading the book.  

“The whole thing was confusing. I could tell that it was about a dystopian society where everyone was being looked at and watched but most of the show I couldn’t understand,” Reyman said.  

It was exciting to see how the story would be portrayed on stage compared to reading the story on paper. Overall, the Samo Theatre "1984" production was a unique and overall great show.