Ten years ago I set out in earnest to read the complete works of George Orwell. In two year’s time I’d finished every novel, short story, and critical essay he’d ever written.
Why?
My exposure to Orwell (real name, Eric Arthur Blair) began, like most young students, with his seminal work, “1984”. As an impatient teen I struggled through this dark and fairly technical piece. “Animal Farm” was more accessible, albeit politically complex. And “Down & Out in Paris & London”, though frequently humorous, was unrelenting in its autobiographical portrayal of a young Orwell, destitute and struggling to survive.
But decades later as I began (as a presumably wiser adult) revisiting his works I was struck by their astounding honesty, wit, clarity, strength, and prescience. Orwell now struck me as the quintessential voice of reason in a world gone mad. He was also a literary superhero of sorts; physically powerful (despite his constant struggles with health), a disciplined, determined, and passionate artist, capable of generating volumes of fiction and non-fiction writings over a relatively brief span of time, willing to risk his life for causes he believed in, only to tragically die just as his work had finally begun receiving the recognition it deserved.
As a performer, I became obsessed with creating a dramatic piece which might somehow capture Orwell’s essence; his innate sense of irony, his political savvy, and above all, the romantic yearnings so apparent in much of his early fiction and so richly portrayed by the protagonist Winston’s tragic relationship with the young renegade Julia in “1984”. Because in the end, Orwell was a man like so many others; filled with longing for the girl of his dreams; a knowing, passionate woman who might somehow save him from his own tortured existence.
With this in mind, I set to work distilling his three major works into a one hour stage adaptation originally titled “ORWELLIAN: Rants, Raves, and Recollections From the Works of Eric Arthur Blair”. After obtaining permission from The Estate of the Late George Orwell in London, I began sharing the piece with potential backers.
Director and friend David Rose first helped me present the piece to Ron Sossi, artistic director of The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in West LA. Shortly thereafter I was cast as King Lear in a production of Shakespeare’s play produced by The Porters of Hellsgate Theater Company. My association with them led to their helping me mount a short but highly successful run of the now simply titled “ORWELLIAN” at Theater of Note as part of the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival (directed by Thomas Bigley), which in turn led us back to Ron Sossi’s Odyssey Theatre and what will be our first full run in repertory with Gus Krieger’s critically acclaimed “Sherlock Through The Looking Glass”.
I hope you’ll join me in this journey as “ORWELLIAN” begins its run at The Odyssey on November 9th, with hopes of eventually expanding to other theaters in the Los Angeles area, across the country, and beyond.
Learn More at facebook.com/larrycedarorwellian
