BRIGHTON FRINGE – Orwell: The Road to 1984, Rotunda Bubble

Writer and Director: Guy Smith

Sound Design: Chloe Park

Performer: Mark Stratford

Reviewer: Lela Tredwell

Packed full of humanity and vigour, Orwell: The Road to 1984 is beautifully written and brilliantly performed. A triumph of a show, it explores the life of George Orwell and the journey he took to writing his extraordinary works of fiction. Including captivating anecdotes and life lessons from Orwell’s own penned hand, it draws a crowd and proves to be a well-researched tour de force through the writer’s life, creating a worthy tribute. 

Mark Stratford expertly portrays the author with tenderness and vitality. From Orwell’s disturbing early memories of receiving the cane at boarding school, to his tense time as a police officer in Burma (now Myanmar), to his own failed attempts at imprisonment, Stratford brings the author’s tales to life with determination, wit, and spirit, while also battling against the heatwave captured under the canvas at the Rotunda Bubble. The performance is exceptionally admirable under the conditions, and given how he is portraying a feverish man on his sick bed, Stratford even manages to make it all appear rather fitting. 

The stage is set with a basic hospital set up but with enough space around the bed for the all important writing desk. Versatile props and accessories are at hand to transport us to all manner of places throughout Orwell’s life. Our hero is called to take us into a particular memory by music and sounds, designed engagingly by Chloe Park. The way the narrative weaves together the memories from a richly led life and demonstrates how key events helped to shape Orwell’s view is inspired. It doesn’t knock us around the head with the connections but presents them as part of a tapestry allowing its audience space to draw their own conclusions.

The show excels at shining a light on the origins of Orwell’s politics and his insightful observations on corruption and the manipulation of truth. We hang on every word as Orwell (Stratford) regales us with the tale of the elephant he reluctantly shot while working for the British Imperial Police. The dog present at a man’s execution takes on heavy meaning. And we laugh heartily along to his memories of working in a bookshop and to his efforts at being a writer in Paris. 

For lovers of 1984 and Animal Farm this show is an absolute must. It’s a very moving portrayal of a writer and of a man. Towards the end of the performance, the curtains to the tent need to be opened due to the effects of the heat. Somehow this too manages to take on further significance for at this point in the narrative, Orwell (Stratford) has just finished writing 1984. It is as if the themes of mass surveillance, unchecked power and the widespread distortion of the truth meet the current day climate reminding us of the deeply disturbing relevance of Orwell’s writing to our present world. We are shown that The Road to 1984 is not the masterful writer George Orwell’s alone and sadly it is one still being travelled upon.

Reviewed on the 22nd May 2026.