Returning again as an Edinburgh Fringe favourite amongst audiences, there is no denying that Box Tale Soup’s 1984 is filled with beautiful storytelling, emotional acting, and impressive puppetry — being both visually stunning and memorable in nature.
We follow the tale of Winston, who is initially an insignificant cog in the Party’s vast machine, and is continuously under the watchful, threatening eye of Big Brother. But what happens once Winston yearns for freedom, and turns out, he’s not the only one?
This performance adaptation of 1984 was told through the three actors: Mark Collier as Winston, Antonia Christophers as Julia, and Noel Byrne as O’Brien, alongside a variety of other side characters. It was astonishing to witness their high-level skills of puppetry and acting; you could simultaneously see their own facial expressions behind the puppet, mimicking the puppet’s represented emotions. All three actors have an overwhelming aura when on stage, and they had complete control over everything, and everyone in the audience too.
Box Tale Soup’s set design was astonishing, with their utilisation of recycled materials for everything on stage. It created such a distinguished grandeur theme from the central, white, triangular structure, to the triangular wooden shapes that formed as rooms and lamps. Their props and set were designed so cleverly — they really brought the word “recycling” to a brand new level!
Initially apprehensive when stepping into this performance, struggling to recall the plot of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, I was quite confused in the first few minutes due to the amount of characters being shared between the three actors and the puppets. However, their rendition of the science-fiction tale was easy to get into as I began to notice the little details and differences between the costumes and acting, in order to tell the characters apart. Especially clever was the switch between puppet and actor to portray Winston’s character; representing his rise and fall against commodification and suppression of individuality.
Image courtesy of Box Tale Soup, provided to The Student as press material.