Review: 1984 at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow | Scottish Tour - Essential viewing

Lisa in the theatre
3 days ago
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Updated: 24 hours ago

Dominic Hill's new stage adaptation of Orwell's 1984 opens at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow before touring to Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Read my review here.

1984 ★★★★☆

Review: 3 September 2026 | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow

A new Scottish Theatre production of George Orwell's dystopian classic 1984 has opened in Glasgow this week. A co-production between the Citizens Theatre Glasgow, Dundee Rep Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Orwell's seminal text has been newly adapted for the stage by Scottish playwright Chris Hannan.

Optimising on the local connection, the new play opens not with Winston Smith in Orwell's fictional totalitarian world, but with Orwell himself, as he arrives in Glasgow on a cold Christmas Eve in 1947. For in the real world, Orwell wrote a significant portion of 1984 while being treated for tuberculosis in Hairmyres Hospital.

In a genius piece of framing, Hannan uses Orwell's seven-month stay in the Scottish hospital, and his care by a doctor who fought on the opposite side of the Spanish Civil War, to show exactly how he was influenced to create a story set in an authoritarian world under constant surveillance.

Tom Piper's huge-scale industrial set links both Orwell's bed during his confinement in hospital and party worker Winston Smith's bed, from which he awakes under the oppressive gaze of Big Brother at the start of the play within the play.

Jack Tarlton plays both Orwell and Smith in an exceptionally raw, highly physical performance that sees him barely leave the stage during the almost 3-hour runtime. He leads the show with a defiant vulnerability that makes the cruel crushing of his hope and eventual submission devastating to witness. Jessica Hardwick is equally as impressive as Winston's forbidden love interest, Julia, while Irene MacDougall's chilling O'Brien is a gender-swapped triumph.

Dominic Hill expertly directs a strong ensemble cast of talent in his intelligent, deeply unsettling piece of theatre that masterfully depicts iconic moments from the book. The Ministry of Love, the Thought Police, the two-minute hate, and the iconic, horrifying Room 101 are all realised with brutal impact. Heather Scott's discerning video design is never overused, deftly reminding us throughout the show that Big Brother is always watching, and that "He who controls the present controls the past".

A technical triumph, full of thought-provoking themes, gut-wrenching emotion and occasional, welcome humour, 1984 does become difficult to watch in Act II, with prolonged torture scenes which wouldn't be any less impactful if trimmed to bring down the overall running time of the show.

In the current era of "Fake News" and rising political tensions, 1984's warnings about the crime of thinking and the distortion of truth are more important now than ever. Rooting the story in Scotland for this Scottish tour production is inspired. While at times uncomfortable, this contemporary, haunting adaptation of 1984 is essential viewing. ★★★★☆

1984 plays at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow until 26 September 2026 before touring across Scotland.

MORE: Read the 1984 cast announcement here