“There is a lie I want to expose”
Orwell: The Road to 1984, by Guy Smith, tells the story of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and the personal experiences that inspired his classic tales Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
It is a timely portrait of a writer whose words remain a warning – and a hope.
In this powerful new play, Mark Stratford takes you on a journey through the extraordinary experiences that shaped the work of this perceptive and compelling writer.
In Orwell’s words, we travel through many of the remarkable episodes in his life including his time at a grim boarding school, being a police officer in colonial Burma, his adventures tramping through England to live among the poor and underprivileged, and his close shave with death in the Spanish Civil War.
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie I want to expose.” George Orwell
In this age of misinformation, political extremism and digital surveillance, ORWELL: The Road to 1984 is a play for our time.
Stratford Productions was set up in 2019 by actor/writer Mark Stratford in order to produce and tour his self-penned solo plays: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – adapted from the novella of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson; and Macready! Dickens’ Theatrical Friend – which tells the remarkable story of the great Victorian actor-manager, Macready – the man to whom Charles Dickens dedicated Nicholas Nickleby.
Adapter/Director – Guy Smith: Guy read Down and Out in Paris and London when he was about 14 years old. It changed his life and inspired him to become a reporter. After he left school, he got a job in local radio which led to a long career first in network radio and then as a producer/director in current affairs TV.
The Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH
Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 October 2026 at 7.30pm
Tickets: £17, £15 concessions (13+)
Box office: www.brockleyjack.co.uk
or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings only)
Run time: 80 minutes with no interval
