New Adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 Comes to the Citizens Theatre Ahead Of Scottish Tour

Directed by Dominic Hill, Artistic Director of the Citizens Theatre, 1984 is a co-production between Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh which previews in Glasgow from 29 August 2026 and receives its world premiere on 3 September 2026 before touring to Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The Citizens Theatre commissioned this new adaptation from writer Chris Hannan as part of its reopening programme. In recent times, 1984 has surged back up international bestseller lists, as readers return to Orwell’s stark warning about truth, power and control in today’s unsettling world politics.

Playwright Chris Hannan is one of Scotland’s leading writers. He has adapted major literary classics, including Crime and Punishment (for Citizens Theatre in 2013) and The Iliad.

This new stage adaptation of 1984 stays true to Orwell’s dystopian novel about a tightly controlled society built on surveillance, fear and the manipulation of truth - while exploring the love affair between Winston and Julia that catapults them into rebellion. 

One of the defining novels of the 20th century, 1984’s Scottish connections are striking. Written largely on the Scottish island of Jura and completed while he was seriously ill in hospitals and sanatoria, George Orwell spent crucial periods in Scotland while finishing the book - including time at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride as his health deteriorated. The physical strain he was under, and the bleak post-war climate in which he was writing, echo through the novel’s stark and unsettling world.

Director, Dominic Hill said: “I am thrilled to be working once again with Chris Hannan. His version of Crime and Punishment for the Citz proved once again that he is one of Scotland’s finest playwrights but also has a great talent at making works of prose feel like immediate, living drama for the stage. His new adaptation of Orwell’s chilling classic is equally brilliant. We live in a world that is increasingly called ‘Orwellian’; Chris’s adaptation takes us back to the original story - an appeal for truth, love and moral courage within a system designed to crush. It is a classic story, told for our times, and I can’t wait for audiences across Scotland to experience it later this year.”

Opening in Glasgow in August 2026, it will mark one year since the Citz returned to its home in the Gorbals, following a major redevelopment of the building.

Further creative and cast credits to be announced.

Tour Dates

Citizens Theatre, 29 Aug – 26 September
citz.co.uk

Dundee Rep Theatre, 30 September – 10 October
dundeerep.co.uk

His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, 13 October – 17 October 
aberdeenperformingarts.com/his-majestys-theatre/

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