In the organizer's words:

GEORGE ORWELL'S 1984

Play based on George Orwell

Adapted by Alan Lyddiard

In the state of Oceania: The all-powerful Unity Party monitors everything and everyone around the clock. Big Brother has his eyes and ears everywhere - for the good and safety of all citizens, as the government assures us. Winston Smith works in the "Ministry of Truth". He falsifies historiography to suit the regime, creates alternative facts and ensures that the inhabitants of Oceania believe even the most contradictory information to be true. But Winston is in a ferment. He can no longer bow to totalitarian rule without criticism and commits a crime that is terrible by Oceanian standards: He thinks for himself and secretly keeps a diary. Winston falls in love with his colleague Julia, and they both decide to make contact with the underground resistance. But the thought police already have them in their sights...

George Orwell wrote the novel 1984 in 1948, a year that gave the title to the book that quickly became world-famous. In 1948, it seemed like a glimpse into a very distant future. Even in the real year 1984, there was not much reason to worry that Orwell might have been right. 35 years later, however, we now have all the more cause for concern: Orwell's vision of total surveillance has become frighteningly topical. Just imagine a dictatorship taking control of our data collected on the internet and being able to create personality profiles at will...

"What Orwell demonstrated in his 1948 anti-utopia [...] we are now far ahead of, more subtle, more comprehensive and can manage without thumbscrews, even if not everywhere, even in democratic states. The development is far from foreseeable. When it will soon only be possible to pay by cell phone, Orwell's "Big Brother" will be a legal reality." (Richard Peter, DeWeZet from 17.09.2019 - Premiere in Hamelin)