Tractor Tom and the Treasure Hunt

Billingham Forum, October 2nd 2006.

Ostensibly a light-hearted entertainment piece for children, Tractor Tom and the Treasure Hunt is in fact a clever, albeit underhand, adaptation of Orwell's 1984. But Oceania was never like this. The bleak scenery of London is replaced here by Springhill Farm, a colourful place where humans, animals and talking machinery co-exist in a carefree setting. But scratch the surface and what lies beneath is a dystopia every bit as brutal and sadistic as that described by Orwell.

The performance starts with the introduction of Matt, an unintelligent looking worker at the farm. His place in the society is clear from the outset; he has been given orders to tidy the farm by Farmer Fi and Tractor Tom. Whilst Matt is working several animals emerge from behind the scenery to undo his efforts whilst he looks the other way - but such is his lack of observation and questioning that he assumes he has simply made mistakes, despite protestations from the young audience. These animals, which routinely appear and disappear from numerous vantage points, clearly represent 1984's telescreens with their pervasive surveillance. At least one is present throughout the whole performance, silently observing and making notes. Matt himself is no Winston Smith at this point but rather a helpless cog in the oppressive machine.

The next scene reveals the farm itself, with Farmer Fi and Tractor Tom entering the stage. Fi rides in on Tractor Tom in a manner clearly suggesting they are sexual partners. She is perhaps a member of Orwell's inner party - a position that gives her seniority over Matt but still makes her subservient to Tractor Tom. Matt clearly lusts after Fi but she barely acknowledges his existence aside from delegating him work, let alone give any indication that she has reciprocal feelings toward him. Her attention throughout is wholly upon Tractor Tom.

Tom himself is of course the living embodiment of Orwell's Big Brother. From this point on he remains centre stage, symbolising his importance to the lives of the characters. Their lives revolve around his whims. When he speaks they all stop and listen, and his voice resonates from speakers around the theatre. When he makes a particularly important announcement a beacon flashes above his head. His eyes are cunningly disguised as headlights but clearly contain telescreens as well. The characters are in such thrall of the malevolent tractor that they never think to question their roles or their surroundings. The quite obviously fake landscapes are never commented on by anyone. Who knows what bleak scenery lies behind them? The characters praise every word that the tractor speaks. At several points they repeat the phrase 'Oh Tractor Tom, whatever would we do without you?'

The farm, obviously modelled on the Collective Farms of Stalin's Soviet Union, is inefficient and provides little in way of production. Famine would appear to be rife, orchestrated in a deliberate manner to keep the populace under control. Enthusiastically it is pronounced that the hens have lain four eggs and that this is a new record. However this agricultural propaganda leads to Matt's undoing. 'Looks like eggs for tea again' he sighs, forgetting that he is under constant surveillance. Big Brother/Tractor Tom hears this offhand remark and immediately the full force of the state is brought to bear to crush any possibility of unrest or rebellion by the farm workers.

As is common in many dictatorships, fear of a foreign enemy is introduced in an attempt to manipulate the characters. We are told that 'pirates', specifically one named Blackbeard (clearly representing Emmanuel Goldstein here) are coming to attack the farm. This ludicrous scenario is repeated at every opportunity until the characters are scared out of their wits and even more subservient to the will of Tractor Tom. Just before the interval we see plans being made to make a 'last stand' at the farm gate.

The final scene shows Fi and Tractor Tom standing near a makeshift barricade at the entrance to the farm. Pirate related propaganda posters have been placed on every available surface. The telescreen animals are silent, watching. Incredibly a pirate does appear claiming to be Blackbeard. The young audience are encouraged to boo him at every opportunity in a manner reminiscent of Orwell's two-minute hate. My own son enthusiastically joined in. This was a clear message to the parents in the audience that with little effort a dictatorship can easily make our children subservient to its will. How soon would it be I wondered before my own son would denounce me to the evil tractor?

Before long the pirate is unmasked as being Matt himself. Unbeknownst to the audience he had been ensnared in a honey pot offered to him by agents of Tractor Tom posing as pirate revolutionaries. Thinking that the masses are poised to rebel against the State he incriminates himself. Tom orders him to walk the plank into the farm pond (here representing Orwell's room 101) before Matt's will breaks at the last moment and he is spared from his fate. Clearly all too soon he will be executed and become a 'non-person', with all trace of him removed from history. But for now he re-embraces Tractor Tom even more enthusiastically than before. The play finishes with the audience joining in with a medley of glorifying militaristic anthems such as "The Grand Old Duke of York" before one last song reaffirming the greatness of Tractor Tom himself. As the curtain falls and darkness descends upon the stage the last things we see are the lit headlight eyes of Tractor Tom, a reminder that Big Brother never stops watching each and every one of us.

I found this piece to be profoundly disturbing. As regular readers of this column will know, I complained bitterly about the hidden themes of sodomy, female circumcision and sado-masochism which I detected in 'The Mr Men's Birthday Party' which toured last year. I approached the manager of the theatre to register my concerns only be told 'Aw, not you again. Sling yer hook yer fookin nutter'.