Riksteatret // 1984 dub

THE ART OF SURVEILLANCE (SAY YOURSELF) “Thought crime”, “Big Brother is watching you”, “Cold War” and “2+2=5”. The terms originate from George Orwell, the author of classics such as Animal Farm and 1984. In the turbulent 1930s and 40s, the British author became intensely concerned with exposing totalitarian systems and protecting the individual amidst a flood of political rhetoric and mass movements from the far left to the far right. Where is, and is there really, truth and freedom when ideological struggle takes over everything? Are we humans willing to do anything to gain or hold on to power – from falsifying our own history to reporting or canceling those closest to us? From another turbulent time, namely our own, director and playwright Tore Vagn Lid meets Orwell in a new musical performance that continues to play on his captivating and dangerous universe. Starting from the love story at the heart of the novel 1984, Vagn Lid moves through Orwell's writings and into our own times. Here, it is no longer the "Party" and "Big Brother" who are responsible for surveillance to the same extent. In the age of algorithms and artificial intelligence, surveillance can be more about the art of monitoring oneself.