Of course there is no real George Orwell - it was the pen name of Eric Blair - but he was a writer and political commentator who is very hard to pin down. Ever since his early death in 1950, he has been at one and the same time the darling of some on both the left and the right of British politics - whilst being reviled by others. For all the beautiful simplicity of his writing and storytelling Orwell/Blair is a complex mass of confusions - an anti-establishment, pro-English, ex-Etonian ex-policeman and socialist, who was ardently anti-authoritarian. He was as anti-fascist as he was anti-communist, a former Spanish Civil War soldier who was anti-war but pro the Second World War, and so on and so on.
Through dramatisations of the key books, through four newly commissioned plays that explore the disjuncture between the man who was Eric Blair and the writer who was George Orwell, and through factual programming and readings, Radio 4 will take you on a journey from Burma via Catalonia, Wigan, Jura, Manor Farm along the road that led to Nineteen Eighty-Four, one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century.
From his early twenties, when he was an Imperial policeman in Burma, to his last years on Jura, these four plays examine the life of Eric Blair. With Joseph Millson.
Episode 1: Burma (Mike Walker)
After an undistinguished academic career at Eton, Eric leaves in December 1921. Unlike most of his friends, his parents can't afford to send him to University. When the girl he hopes to marry rejects him, he sets sail for Burma to join the colonial police. His experiences in Burma will affect him profoundly. They will give him material for essays such as 'A Hanging' and 'Shooting An Elephant', and his first novel, 'Burmese Days' - and they will begin to shape his political thinking. When he rejects the Empire and returns to England, Blair begins to spend more and more time with the poor.
Credits:
Eric Blair - Joseph Millson
Jacintha Buddicom - Sophie Roberts
Wilson - Joseph Kloska
Inspector d'Souza - Ernest Ignatius
Burmese youth - Armaan Kirmani
Man on Train - Derek Riddell
Ted - Alun Raglan
Director - Kate McAll
A BBC/Cymru Wales production
Episode 2: Dreaming (Mike Walker)
In September 1938, Eric and Eileen Blair leave London for Marrakech. He is hoping that the climate will be good for his health, and that he will be able to complete 'Coming Up for Air' a novel that examines, among other things, the nature of England. But the bruising reception he received following the publication of Homage to Catalonia is troubling Eric. And both Eric and Eileen are still feeling guilty about the fate of one of their Spanish Civil War comrades, Georges Kopp. In the summer of 1938 Kopp had just been released from prison. In Marrakech, Eileen falls ill, and Eric dreams of England, and of Kopp.
Credits:
Eric Blair - Joseph Millson
Eileen Blair - Lyndsey Marshal
Georges Kopp - Ewan Bailey
Tommy - Paul Stonehouse
Actor - Ben Crowe
Actor - Will Howard
Director - Kate McAll
Episode 3: Loving (Jonathan Holloway)
Eric Blair's relationship with the opposite sex could be a distraught one; over the course of his lifetime, he made several awkward marriage proposals to different women. But his relationship with Eileen O'Shaugnessy, whom he married in 1935, had a huge influence both on his life and his writing. This drama explores the nine years of their relationship.
Credits:
Eric Blair - Joseph Millson
Eileen O'Shaugnessy/Blair - Lyndsey Marshal
Dorothy - Isabella Marshall
Lydia Jackson - Vera Filatova
Inspector Summerfield - Dick Bradnum
Len - Alun Raglan
Actor - Lyndsey Marshal
Director - Kate McAll
A BBC/Cymru Wales production
Episode 4: Jura (Jonathan Holloway)
In 1947, the year after Eileen's death, Eric leaves London and moves to Jura, with his sister Avril, and his three year old son. He is suffering from tuberculosis but is determined to try and make a go of living off the land. But most of all he is determined to finish Nineteen Eighty-Four, his final book.
Credits:
Eric Blair - Joseph Millson
Avril Blair - Liza Sadovy
David Holbrook - Adam Nagaitis
Sonia Orwell - Stephanie Racine
Ricky Blair - James Foster
Henry - Will Howard
Lucy - Alexandra Guelff
Jane - Lizzy Watts
Director - Jeremy Mortimer
Real George Orwell LINK (one RAR file)
Replies
Now that you have introduced me to his work I will keep my eyes open for Mr. Weaver.
Thanks for the program.
Thanks so much, Bob. I'm always interested in this type of historical reimagining.
I'm a big Mike Walker fan and two of these plays are his.