Review: Box Tale Soup’s 1984 – Double Plus Good Theatre

★★★★★

If you do not know what 1984 is about, where have you been? Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece has always been my favourite book, so much so that I own an original annotated manuscript. Faced with Box Tale Soup’s stage version, I had high hopes and it was double plus good.

Directed by Adam Lenson and the company, with an adaptation by Noel Byrne, Antonia Christophers and Mark Collier, this production distils Orwell’s vision into a lean and impactful piece of theatre. Collier’s Winston carries the weight of paranoia and resistance with full goodthink, while Christophers brings quiet steel and unshakeable loyalty to Julia. Byrne’s O’Brien is a chilling embodiment of the Party’s unending watchfulness.

The company is renowned for their striking blend of homemade puppets and live performance. Here, puppets designed by Christophers and Byrne are pale, gormless shells of people, their set back eyes and rigid forms allowing only the smallest movements of the mouth. This paucity of movement or expression heightens the sense of absolute control, as if even their physical freedom has been reduced to near nothing. In an age where facts are altered and history rewritten, Box Tale Soup enhance the story with precision, style and complete absence of crimethink.

The set, costume and puppets are simple yet entirely effective, creating a stark and oppressive atmosphere that would meet with Party approval. Dan Melrose’s original score and Lenson’s sound design heighten the tension, keeping the audience in constant awareness of Big Brother’s presence. If there is a weakness, it is in Byrne’s lighting design. While the light bulb microphones show moments of brilliance, much of the staging feels lit for prolefeed rather than the shadows where true goodthink thrives. For a story as dark as 1984, the embrace of darkness is essential to full Party victory.

Show Information

Title: 1984 by Box Tale Soup

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe

Dates: 30 July – 25 August 2025

Ticket Link: Edinburgh Fringe – 1984