ADAPTATIONS & APPROPRIATIONS

Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm have often been adapted for radio, film, television, theatre, opera and even ballet.  Now that Orwell’s books have fallen out of copyright (in the UK) a spate of quality graphic novels are flooding the market.

Animal Farm was adapted by Orwell himself as a radio drama for the BBC in 1947. He would have been horrified at the animated film version (1954) which had the ending changed (and was funded for propaganda purposes by the CIA). Andy Serkis will direct the latest film adaptation of the famous allegory.

This page is a work on progress and includes some fascination adaptations and appropriations collected, including novels and music.

Bierman, Robert, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, 1997 (DVD – 101 mins)

Cartier, Rudolph, Nineteen Eighty-Four, BBC, 1954/2022 (DVD/Blu-Ray – 113 mins)

Bissell, Norman, Barnhill, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2019. 256pp. (Inscribed to me by the author)

Bond, Nelson, Animal farm: a fable in two acts, London: Samuel French, Inc., 1964. 57pp. (First edition signed by Nelson Bond)

Burgess, Anthony, 1985, London: Hutchinson, 1978. 240pp. First edition

Caute , David, Dr. Orwell and Mr. Blair, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1994. 210pp.

Cavendish, Dominic, Orwell: A Celebration, Oberon Modern Plays, Oberon Books Ltd, 2010. 96pp.

Clarke, Thurston, 13 O’Clock, London: Granada, 1984. 277pp.

Eurythmics, Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four), White Label Promo 12″, Collector’s Edition, First Pressing, Limited Edition, Promo, RCA ‎– PW-13957, 1984

Eurythmics, Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four), 7″ 45rpm, Virgin Records, 1984

Fensch, Thomas, Orwell in America, New Century Books, 2019, 214pp.

Glover, Dennis, The Last Man in Europe – A Novel, Black Inc., 2017

Hall, Peter, The Play of Animal Farm, Heinemann, 1993

Hodgkinson, Peter, Orwell Calling, Peancobooks, 2022. 366pp.

Khan, Abdullah, A Man from Motihari, Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd., 2023. 304pp. (kindly inscribed by the author)

Lucio, Andrea and De Miguel, Jordi, Homenaje a Cataluña (versión gráfica), Debate, 2019, 144pp. (signed by Richard Blair in Barcelona)

MacMillan, Duncan & Icke, Robert, 1984, Oberon Modern Plays, 2013, 96pp.

Namai, Matyáš, 1984: The Graphic Novel, London: Palazzo Editions Ltd., 288pp. (signed by author)

NBC Radio, The United States Steel Hour – The Theatre Guild on the Air: 1984 (narrated by Richard Widmark, April 26, 1953), 12″ Vinyl LP Science Fiction Series No. 3 Radiola MR-1139, 1983

Nesti, Fido, Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Graphic Novel, London: Penguin, 2021. 224pp.

Newman, Sandra, Julia, London: Granta Books, 2023. 400pp. (signed first edition)

Owens, Robert; Hall, Wilton Earle; Miles, William A, George Orwell’s 1984: A Play, Chicago: Dramatic Pub Co., 1963. 88pp. (first edition)

Radford, Michael, 1984, 1984, (Bluray – 113 mins)

Radford, Michael, 1984: French Film Poster, 1984

Radford, Michael, 1984: Film Poster, 1984

Radford, Michael, 1984:Set of Eight British Front of House Lobby Cards, 1984

Sutton, Joe, Orwell in America, Broadway Play Publishing Incorporated, 2019, 78pp.

Titeux de la Croix, Sybille; Ameziane, Amazing (Illustrator), 1984: Roman Graphique d’après George Orwell, Monaco: Editions du Roche, 2021. 232 pp. (this first edition was kindly signed by the illustrator)

Wilson, Sean Michael, Such, Such Were the Joys: Illustrated Orwell, Pluto Press, 2001. 112pp. (Illustrated by Jaime Huxtable)

Wilson, Sean Michael, Such, Such Were the Joys: Illustrated Orwell, Pluto Press, 2001. 112pp. (kindly signed and inscribed to yours truly with a sketch of Orwell by the Illustrator, Jaime Huxtable)