When Oscar-winning actor and sometime Westchester resident Tim Robbins first read George Orwell’s “1984� — when he was fresh out of UCLA, in 1983 — he thought it was fanciful science fiction.

“I remember thinking, ‘Well, this isn’t coming true because we don’t have absolute observation of everyone’s movements’,� Robbins recalls. “How could it be possible for a government to monitor all of the individuals in its society?’�

Revisiting the book as he prepared to direct the Actors’ Gang production of “1984� — for a world tour that comes to the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College on Saturday — he was less at ease.

“There was this interesting passage which I had totally forgotten,� he recalls. “(Orwell) says ‘We’re not interested in 80 percent of the people. Eighty percent of the people are too stupefied by overwork or pacified by entertainment. We don’t have to worry about them. It’s 20 percent we have to monitor.’ And that is achievable.�

When Michael Gene Sullivan approached Robbins with a new adaptation of Orwell’s 1948 novel,  Robbins was hooked, but says he wasn’t sure how much of it was really Orwell.

“I absolutely loved it, but I thought, ‘Well, jeez, he’s made some stuff up here,’� Robbins says with a laugh.

Then he started reading.

“Before I called him, I reread the book and I was shocked, delighted and horrified to realize that he hadn’t made it up, that it was all in the book, and how visionary was Orwell to write what he wrote.�

Orwell’s novel looks at a society that’s ruled by the party and overseen by Big Brother. The central character, Winston Smith, initially defies the party until he is pulled into a trap and reconditioned and reprogrammed to proclaim his love for Big Brother.

This is not a reality show where people volunteer to be watched 24/7 for several weeks, to gain 15 minutes of fame and the promise of wealth. This is a society where the individual doesn’t exist, where choice is not an option.
Having read the adaptation and reread the book, Robbins saw little choice but to exercise his option to direct it.

“It’s completely Orwell,� he says.

“The thing that struck me in particular — and one of the things the adaptation focuses on — is the chapter ‘War is Peace.’ It’s Orwell’s description of the state and why war is perpetual and why we are in need of an unseen and constant undefeatable enemy.�

Robbins — no fan of the Bush administration’s war policy — then laughs a knowing laugh.

“The resonance in that alone was enough to immediately do the production. Pretty remarkable. If you don’t have time to read the entire book, just read the Goldstein chapter ‘War is Peace.’ It’s easy to find in the book because it’s in different print than the rest of the book. It’s in bold or italic.�

Robbins — whose front-and-center criticism of the administration has garnered him plenty of detractors — recognizes that some will dismiss the work when they see his name attached to it.

Still, he’s convinced “1984� has plenty to say to those who’ll listen.

“We’ve found, having toured predominately red states — we’ve made the discovery that there are no red and blue states, they’re a  bunch of purple states — that there is a real need and desire to hear this material across political lines.

“We mustn’t forget that some of the staunchest supporters of individual freedoms are Republicans,� he says. “They have been coming to the play and they’ve been interested in the questions it raises. And they’ve stayed around for post-performance discussions, some of which get very lively.�

There is a post-performance discussion set for the Purchase performance on Saturday, Robbins says, although he won’t be on hand for that. (He’ll be rehearsing the cast on Friday, but won’t be at the performance the following night.)

The Actors’ Gang production has toured the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Greece, with Robbins dropping in on it to ensure everything is as he planned.

He says that on his recent travels, — working on the film, “City of Ember� — he found “a different America than I feel is portrayed in the media.�

“I don’t know that there’s any support for this war beyond the government and the media,� he says. “As someone who’s visibly against the war, on this recent trip which lasted eight weeks, there was not one person that said anything negative to me.�

Robbins sees the benefit of individuals taking a stand to change the government, something that was beyond the power of Winston in “1984.�

“I have a real clear idea that if the people actually did determine what the policy of the country was, we’d be in a lot better shape,� Robbins says. “So I have hope because I have an indication that things can change.�

“It always seems to happen that way: Through advocacy and protest and through simple conversations in a diner, eventually the people that lead this country will begin following the wishes of the populace.�