A musical by a first-time director from London has been picked up for a run in New York later this year.
One Georgie Orwell, a stage biography of writer George Orwell, was conceived by Peter Cordwell from Lee in south-east London, who had no background or training in theatre before he embarked on the project four years ago.
The musical has had two stints in the capital and will air for a five-night run at New York’s Lower East Side playhouse, Teatro Latea, from October 28 to November 1.
The narrative traces Orwell’s life through original songs and the writer’s own essays and works, including Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Mr Cordwell, 66, told the Evening Standard: “I’m not sure how much Americans know about George Orwell, but I hope his themes of political hypocrisy and state control ring as true over there as they do in the UK.”
The story features a spoken-word introduction by former Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig, who worked at a newspaper in south-east London at the same time Mr Cordwell was an executive there.
“Geordie, like Orwell, went to Eton, and I needed an Etonian voice to make it more real,” Mr Cordwell added. “We recorded him and it was the perfect fit.”
The Orwell estate granted permission for the writer’s work to be used in the cabaret-style performance, which features six actors from the capital.
One Georgie Orwell is part of a transatlantic partnership between the New York playhouse and Greenwich Theatre in south-east London, which aims to exchange more productions in the future.
“They were sent a recording of the show, and loved it. The next thing we knew they were inviting us over,” Mr Cordwell said. “We couldn’t be more excited.”
