1984 (Broadway)
Closed 1h 41m
1984 (Broadway)
76

1984 (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

76%
(628 Ratings)
Positive
78%
Mixed
15%
Negative
7%
Members say
Intense, Thought-provoking, Relevant, Edgy, Absorbing

About the Show

This stage adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel stars Tony winner Reed Birney, Tony nominee Tom Sturridge, and Olivia Wilde in her Broadway debut. Ages 13 and up only.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (628)

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70 Reviews | 1 Follower
100
Ambitious, Absorbing, Classic, Intense, Riveting

See it if 1984 it takes you to that place where you don't want to go . pulsating

Don't see it if intense on every level

93 Reviews | 8 Followers
100
Must see, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if Want to watch something interesting that is so relevant to our lives nowadays..

Don't see it if You do not like loud music or flashing lights..

50 Reviews | 19 Followers
100
Absorbing, Great acting, Clever, Engrossing, Phenominal

See it if If you like Great Theatre! No words to describe the feelings it brings out in you. The best show I've seen in years! The acting superb!

Don't see it if If you only like musicals or comedies. This show is for adults who want more to think about.

58 Reviews | 19 Followers
99
Absorbing, Ambitious, Edgy, Epic, Intense

See it if you love edgy, experimental, immersive theatre experiences.

Don't see it if you are sensitive to gore/torture sequences. Must have a strong stomach.

61 Reviews | 18 Followers
95
Ambitious, Clever, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Intelligent

See it if you would like to see a show that makes you think.

Don't see it if If you get stressful when you see edgy shows. The show is quite intense

276 Reviews | 47 Followers
95
Absorbing, Intelligent, Masterful, Thought-provoking, Riveting

See it if You enjoy thinking and do not mind being challenged.

Don't see it if You like”feel good” plays and musicals.

196 Reviews | 51 Followers
95
Ambitious, Great acting, Intense, Thought-provoking, Profound

See it if you like intense and intelligent plays

Don't see it if you can't stand non-musicals. Read more

248 Reviews | 66 Followers
95
Great acting, Great staging, Intense, Riveting, Relevant

See it if You remember the book but not clearly. I was on the edge of my seat, and the sense of dread and horror in the theater was palpable.

Don't see it if You want a fun night at a musical, or a comedy. It's intense, in a good way.

Critic Reviews (54)

The New York Times
June 22nd, 2017

“You may well find pleasurable pain in the discombobulating stage adaptation…But it will be pain of a different order (possibly involving nausea) from the empathetic kind you experience reading Orwell’s ever-engrossing book…There is an ordering intelligence behind this ostensible muddle...The show’s self-sabotaging ambiguity is meant to make us question every version of reality that’s on offer...That nebulousness is the play’s most ingenious aspect, and also its most irritating.”
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Time Out New York
June 22nd, 2017

“Intense in a way I’ve never seen on Broadway: It’s gut-churning…This gripping show rewards watching, though…As technology becomes more pervasive and ideology more rigid, it is hard not to drawing associations between Orwell’s horror story and the way we live now. But be warned: ‘1984’ is spikier than you might remember from reading it in high school...What makes this antipropaganda broadside so lastingly compelling is how successfully it resists decaying into propaganda itself.”
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New York Magazine / Vulture
June 22nd, 2017

“Though it’s a little off-putting to see perhaps 20 percent of a play mediated on a big TV, it’s a legitimate idea for theater-making, inventively and thoughtfully deployed. What’s weak, astonishingly enough, is the script, at least for the first hour…But then comes the arrest, and the whole thing starts to snap together. The torture scenes are visceral, ghastly, and hair-raisingly vivid...Birney is just about perfect in the role.”
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The Wall Street Journal
June 22nd, 2017

"A multimedia extravaganza...Broadly faithful to the novel, with Orwell’s moral left wholly intact...The continuing applicability of this moral makes it regrettable that '1984' isn’t more theatrically potent than it turns out to be. Some scenes do have tremendous punch...It helps that sound design and lighting are so fine, and two of the performances are equally noteworthy...'1984' would hit home harder were it set not in a sort-of-nowish not-quite-London but in, say, Pyongyang."
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Deadline
June 22nd, 2017

“A frequently harrowing adaptation…The show memorably reinvents one of the most terrifying tales of modern times…It lets Orwell speak for himself, though in a distilled version that must make blatantly visual what the novel takes pains to incite in the consciousness…Sturridge has a jittery, piercing appeal…Wilde has a contained abandon that emphasizes Julia’s revolutionary urges without caricature. Birney proves once again to be a master of emotional concealment that works to expose.”
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New York Daily News
June 22nd, 2017

“For all its moving set pieces, along with a busy, ear-blasting soundscape, frequent blackouts, blinding lights and live video, it’s strangely unmoving and low-impact. The action meanders and jumps in time, so some familiarity with the story is a must. On the plus side, authors and directors Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan deserve credit for letting Orwell’s cautionary story speak for itself…All three leads carve out capable but not especially memorable characterizations.”
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Variety
June 22nd, 2017

“Tough to take — but worth the cost of losing your lunch…It’s the unnerving sound-and-light show that really gets under your skin and burrows, wormlike, into your brain…Winston comes alive, although Sturridge is so wound up he never really surrenders to sex and love…Orwell’s suggestion that Big Brother doesn’t actually exist — that he is, in fact, all of us — really knocks us out.”
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The Hollywood Reporter
June 22nd, 2017

“While I can imagine this visceral production being chillingly effective in an intimate venue, I found it distancing and unsatisfying in a Broadway house. It's also a massive, bludgeoning downer. The impressive stagecraft constantly overpowers the human element of the drama — the cast's committed performances notwithstanding…There's a heavy-handedness to the storytelling that makes it just as often numbing as unsettling. Which is not to say the adaptation lacks skill or inventiveness."
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