The continued relevance of George Orwell’s great political novel doesn’t go unnoticed by theatre group Box Tale Soup, who warn audiences to switch off their ‘surveillance devices’ before it all begins, prompting nervous laughter from the crowd. Their faithful adaptation of 1984 (the tale of Winston, a middle-class grunt quietly rebelling in an authoritarian state) doesn’t feel the need to alter its plot beats for the simple reason that its themes are evergreen (although this does mean that Julia, the book’s least developed character, remains a cipher for Orwell’s sexual longings far more than she is a person in her own right). 

The fingerprint which Box Tale Soup place on the text comes in the form of puppetry, adding a clear symbolic resonance with people reduced to objects controlled by the state. A continual interplay between puppets and actors to convey the dialectical shift between slavery and freedom, though simplistic, provides a visual flair and dynamism that isn’t necessarily present in the novel which, particularly in its third act, mainly consists of O’Brien reciting lengthy monologues in grey rooms. Many adaptations stumble over Orwell’s essayist tendencies, but this strong cast implicitly understands how to maintain the claustrophobic tension of Winston’s unknowing march towards Room 101. 

1984, Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 August, 11.25am.