1984 is still terrifyingly relevant, says Sturridge

GEORGE ORWELL’S dystopian classic 1984 is “terrifyingly relevant” and can help us deal with recent events, actor Tom Sturridge said today after the stage adaptation transferred from the West End to Broadway.

Sturridge plays rebellious Winston Smith in Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s version of the novel, published in 1949, which enjoyed a sell-out run at the Almeida Theatre and three stints in the West End. Orwell’s son Richard Blair was at the opening on Thursday at the Hudson Theatre in Times Square.

London-born Sturridge, 31, stars alongside Olivia Wilde, 33 (pictured with him), who is best known for her role as Hadley in medical drama House. Sturridge, who received an ES Theatre Award best supporting actor nomination last year for American Buffalo, said: “1984 is terrifyingly relevant. It generates a political conversation but it’s an exciting piece of theatre. Every day there are things to be spawned from Orwell’s mind, whether it’s in England or America, terrorist-related or government-related.”

What Donald Trump’s government and the ruling Inner Party of 1984 “have in common is that they are democratically elected”, he said. Following reports that audience members fainted during the torture scenes in 1984, producers have brought in an age restriction policy barring children born after 2004 from seeing the play.