118 The 1984 Show: Dystopia Revisited

At the conclusion of World War II, noted British journalist George Orwell wrote his prophetic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. This dark dystopian tale foretells a future for humanity polarized by the victors of the six year long global conflict Orwell had reported on; the communist Soviet block and the allied group of nations led by the United States and Great Britain.

In choosing a title for his novel, Orwell simply inverted the final two digits of the year in which he completed his book, 1948.

And so 1948 became 1984

In 1973, on the 25th anniversary of the novel, David Bowie, having just completed his tenure in the lead role as intergalactic rock star Ziggy Stardust, was hungrily looking for a new project to busy himself with.

Bowie set out to create a multi-media adaptation of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, complete with a West End stage production, an accompanying album, and a film/TV broadcast, all inspired by the post apocalyptic, paranoid vision of Orwell’s book.

In preparation for the project, Bowie had his office approach Orwell’s widow and estate executor, Sonia Orwell, in order to secure the theatrical rights. She flatly refused, stating that she strongly disliked Bowie’s production ideas and considered the entire concept in poor taste.

A clearly deflated Bowie was furious about the rejection and targeted Orwell directly in interviews at the time. Speaking to writer Ben Edmonds of Circus magazine, Bowie complained:

"Mrs. Orwell refused to let us have the rights, point blank. For a person who married a socialist with communist leanings, she was the biggest upper-class snob I've ever met in my life. 'Good heavens, put it to music?' It really was like that."

After being denied the rights, Bowie staged what he called The 1980 Floor Show, a theatrical rock musical filmed over three days, October 18–20, 1973, at the Marquee Club in Soho, London. The event was later broadcast in the United States by NBC on November 16, 1973, as an episode of The Midnight Special.

Undaunted, Bowie salvaged much of the material he had already written for his adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four and repurposed it into his 1974 “concept” album Diamond Dogs, very loosely based on Orwell’s novel.

A decade later, after the Bowie debacle, British  film director and screenwriter Michael Radford turned his gaze towards making a movie of Orwell’s novel, a project he felt he could film hastily in 1983 in time for a 1984 release.

Securing the film rights to the nov