On the whole, Artist's Rep's production of "1984" is a worthwhile show. The standout is Allen Nause as O'Brien, the calmly sadistic interrogator. My biggest quibble with the script is actually a minor one, which had a disproportionate ability ro jolt me out of the story. This was the Book Club that made sporadic appearances throughout the show. As best I can tell, its purpose is to chide us about our screen-time, due to the constant interruptions of cellphones in their meetings. Their final appearance seems to serve the purpose of letting the audience know that in this telling, The Party is defeated by unknown means sometime before, suggesting the success of an uprising. This registered to me as a wink to what we should do in our current political-climate. If I'm correct, I'll admit that is a somewhat audacious implocation, but not worthy of the disruption to the overall narrative-flow.
All-in-all, Artist Rep's production is impressive, especially in the way it utilizes a handful of screens to transport us to the world of Oceania. That's a large task done with very little.
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