Our Orwell Live projects began in 2017, as we marked our new partnership with UCL by staging the UK’s first live reading of the entire of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four at Senate House, the building which inspired the ‘The Ministry of Truth’.
Beginning with Orwell’s son Richard Blair, the novel was read over the next eleven hours and features the voices of members of the public alongside authors, journalists and other public figures who through their life and work have engaged with Nineteen Eighty-Four‘s themes of truth and technology to war and inequality.
In 2018, we ran two live, dramatised re-imaginings of Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell’s original investigation into the constant pressures of homelessness, destitution and low-payed work – one in each capital city. Both productions, which combined Orwell’s iconic work of first-person reportage with testimony from people who have experienced homelessness today in the UK and France, were live streamed to an audience across the UK and the world. Orwell’s Down and Out Live was supported by Arts Council England and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
1984 Live
1984 Live was a landmark event which saw over fifty leading cultural figures read the whole of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four alongside members of the public, actors and broadcasters to create the UK’s first ever live reading. It took place in the site of the author’s inspiration for the notorious Ministry of Truth, the University of London’s Senate House, and was screen in libraries and theatres across the country. The reading, which has now been viewed over 15,000 times, begins around eleven minutes in and lasts for eleven hours.
Find the cast and full list of readers here.
Orwell's Down and Out: Live in London
Drawing on the iconic works of Orwell and combining these with real-life, modern-day testimonies, Orwell’s Down and Out Live is an immersive production which tells a new story about homelessness. With Orwell’s words read live by politicians, artists, celebrities, activists and members of the homeless community, accompanied by a combination of music, story-telling, film and performance, this live theatrical event ran in London for one day as part of the UCL Festival of Culture.
Directed by Hannah Price, Orwell’s Down and Out Live was the result of a collaboration between The Orwell Foundation, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Libby Brodie Productions and UCL’s Festival of Culture. It was supported using public funding by Arts Council England. We are grateful to generous sponsorship from White Light, the Young Theatre and Stone Nest.
Orwell's Down and Out: Live in Paris
Drawing on the iconic works of Orwell and combining these with real-life, modern-day testimonies, Orwell’s Down and Out Live is an immersive production which tells a new story about homelessness. With Orwell’s words read live by politicians, artists, celebrities, activists and members of the homeless community, accompanied by a combination of music, story-telling, film and performance, this live theatrical event ran in Paris for one day.
The event was the result of a collaboration between The Orwell Foundation, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Libby Brodie Productions and UCL’s Festival of Culture. It was supported using public funding by Arts Council England. We are grateful to British Council France and Refugee Rights Europe for their support.