Story highlights Stage version of iconic novel "1984" debuts on Broadway

Its harsh visuals and graphic "torture porn" scared some audience members

(CNN) "1984" has come to Broadway, and it's making theater-goers faint, vomit, scream at the actors from their seats, and get in fights.

The play is based on George Orwell's iconic novel "1984," which is set in a dystopian, totalitarian future ruled by an all-seeing party leader known as Big Brother. The book itself is violent, but the play takes it to a new visual level that terrified attendees and was called "torture porn" by The Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times

Jackhammers, strobe lights and sudden blackouts add to the play's provocative and shocking torture scenes. The most distressing and "increasingly queasy" torture scene -- where actor Reed Birney calls on a team of men in hazmat suits to torture the character Winston, played by Tom Sturridge -- had an attendee pleading with Birney to stop the torture.

The play previously ran in London, where these scenes caused some viewers to faint, and others to begin throwing up, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"If people don't pass out, I hope they're reminded of our power as citizens, and our responsibility as human beings to each other," Birney told publication.

Read More