1984 – A PLAY FOR OUR TIMES
Citizens Theatre have announced that a new adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 will headline their Autumn season ahead of Scottish a tour that will take it to Dundee Rep Theatre, Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, and His Majesty’s, Aberdeen.
Directed by Dominic Hill, Artistic Director of the Citizens Theatre, 1984, a co-production between Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, will preview in Glasgow from 29 August, receiving its world premiere on 3 September.
The new stage adaptation, by Chris Hannan, stays true to Orwell’s dystopian novel about a tightly controlled society built on surveillance, fear and the manipulation of truth – while exploring the love affair between Winston and Julia that catapults them into rebellion. In recent times, 1984 has surged back up international bestseller lists, as readers return to Orwell’s stark warning about truth, power and control in today’s unsettling world politics.
Director Dominic Hill says, “I am thrilled to be working once again with Chris Hannan. His new adaptation of Orwell’s chilling classic is brilliant. We live in a world that is increasingly called ‘Orwellian’; Chris’s adaptation takes us back to the original story – an appeal for truth, love and moral courage within a system designed to crush. It is a classic story, told for our times, and I can’t wait for audiences across Scotland to experience it later this year.”
One of the defining novels of the 20th century, 1984’s Scottish connections are striking. Written largely on the Scottish island of Jura and completed while he was seriously ill in hospitals and sanatoria, George Orwell spent crucial periods in Scotland while finishing the book – including time at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride as his health deteriorated. The physical strain he was under, and the bleak post-war climate in which he was writing, echo through the novel’s stark and unsettling world.
WHEN AND WHERE TO SEE 1984
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 29 August-26 September, Theatre Pass Members and Supporters pre-sale 25 February, General on sale on 4 March, citz.co.uk | Dundee Rep Theatre, 30 September-10 October, Friends priority on sale 25 February, General on sale 27 February, dundeerep.co.uk | His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, 13 October-17 October, Friends pre-sale 3 March, General on sale 4 March | aberdeenperformingarts.com/his-majestys-theatre/ | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 27 October-7 November, General on sale June 2026, lyceum.org.uk
