GEORGE (Gate Generations/Gate Theatre)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/gate-generations

Available until: Unknown

Gate Generations is a series of short works inspired by past Gate Theatre productions. George is based on Down and out in Paris and London, which is by George Orwell.  A stage adaptation by Lou Stein was performed at the Gate Theatre in 1979.

I could find little information about the production and Hosanna Johnson, who wrote George, admits she couldn’t track down the play, so her play is based on Orwell’s original novel. Down and Out in Paris and London is a memoir in two parts and is Orwell’s first full-length work. It’s about poverty in Paris and London. The first part is about casual labour in a restaurant. George Orwell (or rather Eric Blair, as he was known then) worked for a time as a dishwasher in a restaurant in Paris, though it’s not clear whether this was research or out of financial necessity. The second part of the memoir is from the point of view of a homeless person in London. Wikipedia states that Orwell went on ‘tramping expeditions’ in London, though there is no link to confirm this.

George is about three women – Cat, Bozo and George. Bozo is a character in the novel, but I’m not sure about Cat. They appear to be down and out, presumably in London. Cat and Bozo have a place to sleep, but not much else. Bozo has agreed for George to sleep on the floor for the night. George has an interview tomorrow. But Cat isn’t comfortable going to sleep next to a stranger. She wants to get to know George first.

George is an audio play. The image shown is a wet window, representing the dirty window which is mentioned by the characters. The characters’ words appear on the screen, with Cat’s on the left, George’s in the middle and Bozo’s on the right. Writer Hosanna Johnson (who acted in another Gate Generations episode, Phaedra’s Love) has clearly based this in or near the present day (Pharrell Williams gets a name check), but it’s easy to imagine different versions of this conversation happening throughout history.

Yasmin Hafesji directs, keeping the action at a fast pace which reflects the nervousness of the characters. The speeches sound natural and sometimes overlap, as they would in real life. I’m not sure who plays which role, but Catherine Chalk (who also appeared in Phaedra’s Love), Barbara Smith and Lauren Ziebart (who wrote and performed I Went to Your Grave Today) make their characters interesting, fun, scary and vulnerable. I could happily have listened to them for longer than eleven minutes.

George is a very enjoyable play and I think I’d probably have enjoyed it just as much if I hadn’t looked up the play that inspired it on Wikipedia.