Shake & Stir Theatre’s latest production of 1984, adapted with razor-sharp precision by Nelle Lee and Nick Skubij, is nothing short of extraordinary.
Directed with taut intensity by Michael Futcher, this staging is a visceral, uncompromising dive into the heart of Orwell’s prophetic nightmare – grabbing you by the throat from the first moment and doesn’t give up until its harrowing end.
Michael Whalley delivers a searing performance as Winston Smith, embodying the anguish and defiance of a man slowly being broken from the inside out. His transformation – from quiet rebellion to psychological ruin – is devastatingly believable and deeply affecting.
Chloe Bayliss as Julia is a force of nature; her energy cuts through the grey dread of the world around her, together with Whalley, they create a partnership that is equal parts tender and doomed.
David Whitney’s O’Brien is chilling in his calm authority, making the character’s ideological manipulations feel both seductive and terrifying. Steven Rooke as Parsons is heartbreakingly earnest, injecting brief, tragic levity into a world void of joy, while Abhilash Kaimal brings eerie duality to Charrington and Syme, shifting personas with fluidity.
Visually, the production is an assault on the senses – in the best possible way. Josh McIntosh’s set design is stark and oppressive, turning the stage into both a prison and machine. Jason Glenwright’s lighting cuts and flashes with surgical exactness, heightening the paranoia and dread that permeates every scene.
Guy Webster’s sound design pulses with industrial menace, while Craig Wilkinson’s video projections bring Big Brother’s gaze terrifyingly close, transforming Orwell’s abstract horrors into inescapable reality.
Shake & Stir has taken Orwell’s text and created a living, breathing dystopia onstage – urgent, arresting, and alarmingly relevant, confronting the audience with the raw, physical consequences of ideological submission. Harrowing and unforgettable, it is essential viewing.
And remember… Big Brother is watching!
1984
Comedy Theatre, 240 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Performance: Tuesday 1 July 2025
Season continues to 6 July 2025
Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au
The Melbourne season of 1984 is presented as part of a national tour. For more information and full list of tour dates and venues, visit: www.shakeandstir.com.au for details.
Images: Michael Whalley and David Whitney in 1984 – photo by Joel Devereux | Michael Whalley and Chloe Bayliss in 1984 – photo by Joel Devereux