The extreme "torture porn" in a new Broadway production of George Orwell's 1984 is reportedly making audiences faint and vomit.
Like the original 1949 book by George Orwell, the play is set in a dystopian future run by Big Brother in which a shadowy government uses propaganda, brainwashing, fake news and torture to control its subjects.
Co-written and co-directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, the new production stars Being Julia actor Tom Sturridge as Winston Smith and Rush actress Olivia Wilde as his illegal love interest Julia.
During the infamous torture scenes in the play, the main set is set up like a white box, filled with "searing light" according to Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney. Winston Smith is electrocuted and beaten, later staring into the eyes of individual audience members and yelling that they're "complicit".
The Washington Post reported that during these scenes in London, several audience members fainted and others vomited. A fight broke out between audience members after one staging, while at others the audience reportedly yelled at the actors to stop.
At the recent Broadway debut, one audience member reportedly fainted during a particularly shocking moment.
The play comes with a warning and age restriction: "This production contains flashing lights, strobe effects, loud noises, gunshots, smoking and graphic depictions of violence and torture. It is not suitable for children under 14."
The New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley wrote that "Though I usually don't provide trigger warnings in my reviews, I feel obliged to do so here,"
"The interrogations that Winston undergoes in the play's second half are graphic enough to verge on torture porn."
Newshub.
