George Orwell's classic tale 1984 has resonated down the years as surveillance and reality TV probe more deeply into our lives. The stage version adapted for The Playhouse Theatre returns with a new cast slightly and offers a different twist to the novel as it is set even further into the future in 2050, at a time where language is fully dictated by the totalitarian regime.

Central School of Speech and Drama graduate Angus Wright plays O'Brien, a man in a position of power in the Ministry Of Truth where lead character Winston Smith works. Orwell describes him as being so high up that Winston has no idea what job he has, even though they work in the same building.

As one of the newer members of the cast, Angus explains how he has been finding his feet playing a mysterious member of the Inner Party.

He says: "I'm all settled into life in the play, I've been in it for quite a few weeks and we're probably at the point now where we're trying new things and enjoying it a great deal.

"In terms of putting my own stamp on the character, as an actor you have to trust that you are an individual and what you bring to it is something of yourself. I'm a great believer that if you try too hard to create a character, then the audience can see the cracks and if you try and apply too much quirkiness, you can lead yourself down a path where you are creating a being that isn't quite right.

"I knew the character as I read the book growing up and it was great to read it again and because this play version has a slightly different take to the novel, I play O'Brien more mysteriously as on the stage part of my job is not to reveal who he really is."

Angus describes his favourite scene from the play, where the audience really get a sense of how Winston is putting himself in a dangerous situation by choosing not to conform.

He says: "There's a scene where Winston comes to O'Brien's flat with Julia and what I love about that scene is the fact I'm there with my servant, Martin, who is a very interesting character as well and who Winston looks at and thinks there is something about his face, maybe he has had plastic surgery but can't put his finger on it.

"The scene is slightly queasy as you're not sure who O'Brien really is working for and the audience thinks Winston has walked into the lion's den. It is almost like going into Hitler's bunker and telling him you think he's doing things wrong. "There is that element of danger and Winston takes his life in his hands and it is a very interesting part filled with tension."

Angus wanted to get involved in the play after being fascinated by the themes in the book and how relevant it is to today's age.

He says: "I read the book at 15 and loved it, as each time you read it you see different things and it has remarkably clear writing. Orwell writes very beautifully and created a story about a future world that drew me to into it.

"Over the years, the ideas and meaning of the book has been dramatised so much and placed in our culture that if you ask many people about Big Brother they may think of the TV reality show. We all know the book but we also don't know it as well as we think we do. When you read it, you're taken into a world that makes us asks questions and the audience has to really listen to work out their own interpretation.

"That is the fascinating thing about acting, as you are putting something out there that people interpret in their own way. The function of art is to make us question our lives and realise we are all connected and things affect us individually. You can sit in the park with a book and you are still having a conversation with the writer."

Angus warns the show is not for the faint-hearted, particularly when Winston is taken to the horrifying torture chamber, Room 101.

He says: "We have people who throw up or pass out as it is too much for them, especially as there is no interval. I do believe there is something real about coming to the theatre and it can do something really unusual."

Angus admits that literature and theatre are his lifeblood but he didn't take up acting until he went to university.

"Throughout my life I have always loved the theatre, however I started pursing it while I was studying art history at Edinburgh University and joined the student theatre, where I found I was doing a play every term for four years and spending a lot of my time rehearsing. It wasn't until I started studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama that I realised that this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life."

A review of the show will be available on here tomorrow.

1984, Northumberland Avenue, Embankment, WC2N 5DE, until October 2016, 7.30pm. Details: playhousetheatrelondon.com

By Rachel Russell