It's hard to imagine any reader of George Orwell's 1984 could forget the fate of poor Winston, but some theatregoers seem to have slid it into their own personal memory hole.  

A new stage adaptation of Orwell's post-war dystopian classic is leaving audiences reeling over its graphic depictions of torture.

Reports from Broadway, where the play just premiered featuring Hollywood stars Olivia Wilde and Tom Sturridge, are echoing those closer to home, where the same adaptation, from British theatre directors Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, is currently touring, featuring an all-Australian cast.  

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show's previews on Broadway had viewers fainting, throwing up, and screaming for mercy to the actors from their seats during the title's notorious 'Room 101' torture scenes.

The trade-rag also cited the production's stomach-churning strobe lights and "jackhammer" sound effects as sources of audience distress.

In Orwell's novel, lead character Winston – a lowly government worker with fantasies of rebellion, sparked by an illicit love affair – is corralled back into party line through torture, of the electroshock and clawing-rats-to-the-face variety.

"You can stay and watch or you can leave – that's a perfectly fine reaction to watching someone be tortured," Icke told The Hollywood Reporter.

"But if this show is the most upsetting part of anyone's day, they're not reading the news headlines. Things are much worse than a piece of theatre getting under your skin a little bit."

Icke and Macmillan's bloody adaptation, which premiered on London's West End in 2014, is touring Australia in a co-production between the State Theatre Company of South Australia and the Sydney Theatre Company.

The local production – which associate director Corey McMahon described to Fairfax Media as "not a passive theatrical experience" – has faced a similar response, with unconfirmed reports of audience members fainting during the show's run in Adelaide last month. 

Its official guide, which recommends the play for mature audiences aged over 14, warns of "theatrical haze and lighting, loud sound effects, the use of blood, and acts of simulated violence".

1984's current run comes as interest in Orwell's novel skyrocketed in the wake of Donald Trump's US election win last November.

The book received a "Trump bump" in January, selling out on Amazon just days after Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway used the phrase "alternative facts" to defend inaccurate claims over his inauguration audience figures.   

Earlier this month, Wilde appeared on Stephen Colbert's Late Show where she talked up the adaptation's timely currency.

"It's so relevant that it's really disturbing," Wilde said. "It feels relevant in different ways, depending on what you think of [Trump], but it's definitely something that is universally important: that we are powerful as individuals, and that we must question everything."

The play's sold out Sydney run – starring Tom Conroy and Ursula Mills – opens at the Roslyn Packer Theatre on June 28, before moving onto Canberra and Perth in July and August.