The story

Snowden made the disclosure about the US NSA and the extent to which ordinary citizens’ communications are intercepted and tapped. According to Snowden, “Increasingly we lose our seat at the table and our ability to steer the future and all of these processes begin from the corruption of language which was Orwell’s greatest fear.”

The increasing extent to which our personal communications are intercepted and stored by companies and governments prove the relevance of 1984 in the present time. Advances in technology make it possible to keep us under surveillance and are nothing less than a step towards Orwell’s dystopia.

“We all know roughly, but in his lecture Snowden explains it precisely: how your smartphone works, what happens to your data, how the tech giants know everything about you and why that is something to worry about,” says Emlyn Stam (viola). Snowden shows how topical Orwell’s dystopia is: “This is not something from Stalin’s time. This is happening now.”

Estonian composer – and our violinist – Mihkel Kerem grew up in the waning days of the Soviet Union and thus knows the totalitarian state firsthand. He composed the music for our 1984 performance. The cello plays the role of Winston in his music, who stands up against the system. Kerem’s composition won the prize for Best Original Score at the London Film Awards in May 2021.

Text George Orwell
Composer & conductor Mihkel Kerem
Actor Boris van der Ham
Introduction Edward Snowden
Cello solo Willem Stam
Ensemble New European Ensemble
Film Gijs Besseling
Director Emlyn Stam
Translation Karim Ameur
Project manager education Mieke van der Ven
Performance 65 minuten

Thanks to Fonds Podiumkunsten, Gemeente Den Haag, Kersjesfonds.