Review by Izzy Tierney
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It's been eighty years since the anthropomorphic animals of Manor Farm first revolted, unknowingly trading a corrupt and brutal leadership for one even worse, making it the perfect time to bring George Orwell's satirical novella back to the stage in both a celebration of its anniversary, and its continued relevance during the deterioration of the current political climate.
Written as an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the years of Stalinism that followed, Animal Farm tells the story of an uprising where after years of mistreatment from their farmer and an inspirational speech from the revered Old Major, the animals seize the farm as their own, chasing the humans from the land and forming their own ideology of ‘Animalism’ where, as per the Seven Commandments, ‘all animals are equal’. As someone who loves Animal Farm, I was excited to see how it translated onto the stage, and I'm even more excited to say that it did so excellently.
Adapting Orwell’s work is Tatty Hennessy, who does a brilliant job at preserving the heart of the story and keeping the themes and messages true to the original tale whilst still making it feel fresh. Her script is devastating, funny and thought-provoking with every piece of dialogue intentional and compelling, enhanced beautifully by Amy Leach’s thoughtful and flawless direction, where every scene feels like an impeccably choreographed dance. Movement director, Kane Husbands, does a spectacular job at ensuring the cast are able to move easily about the stage whilst embodying the nature of their animals seamlessly into their human forms so that the audience can fully engross themselves in the play. Similarly, Kate Waters’ fight direction is stunning, with a particular stand out scene being the fight between Snowball (pig) and Blue (dog) where the viciousness was so perfectly animalistic that it was uncomfortable.
Pairing pivotal scenes like these with Jai Morjaria's atmospheric lighting and Khalil Madovi's powerful sound design make for a truly intense, riveting experience, completed wonderfully by Haley Grindle's faultless set and costume design. Condensing an entire farm and farmhouse onto one stage is quite a task but Grindle makes it look simple. With two levels, one for the farm and one for the house, the set is complete and never changes except for a few prop cages, yet it manages to feel both expansive and intimate at the same time, making great use of the depth of the stage to show the vastness of the farm compared to the house. The costumes are equally clever; all animals wearing dirty and ragged clothes that reflect the continuous hardship they face whilst also being a way to make their identities extra clear, with the type of animal written on each one in either some kind of embroidery or tattooed onto the skin, resembling the kind of branding a prisoner may receive.
Leading the way after the revolution is Snowball and Napoleon, two young pigs played by Robin Morrissey and Tachia Newall, respectively. Morrissey brings a genuine likability to the role, making it clear as to why the animals follow him and Napoleon feels threatened by him, while Newall brilliantly manages to keep you engaged even as he becomes more and more unlikeable, morphing from beast to beastly. Playing Squealer, Napoleon's second in command pig, is Tom Simper, who effortlessly manipulates the animals around him and the audience in front of him with his downplayed intelligence and deceptive pretence of kindness. Gabriel Paul owns the stage as the mighty horse, Boxer; the strongest on the farm but with a good, gentle heart that Paul conveys brilliantly, allowing the audience to really connect with his character and feel his pain.
Similarly sweet is Tianah Hodding's horse, Clover, who despite everything still tries her best to stay hopeful and positive and comfort her fellow comrades. Hodding does such a good job at desperately holding on to Old Major’s dream, no matter how deeply she has to live in denial, that she sucks the audience into her despair. Some of the most touching scenes are between Clover and Clara, Brydie Service's hen, who understand each other's trauma of having their young ripped away from them to be killed. Service delivers an outstanding performance as a mother torn apart by anguish and grief in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the entire show. Completing this incredible cast is David Nellist, Joshua-Alexander Williams, Shakeel Kimotho, Everal A Walsh, Farshid Rokey, Em Prendergast and Kaya Ulasli, who are all absolutely fantastic in their roles and more than deserve to be mentioned, as unfortunately I can't talk about every performer in detail or I'd end up writing an essay!
One extremely important thing I do need to talk about though is Amy Leach’s commitment as a director to create inclusive theatre for disabled people on and off the stage. BSL is continuously blended into the show, and there are also multiple captioned or BSL interpreted performances throughout the run, the latter of which will be in costume, in the show as one of the characters. At every one of the upcoming performances, audio description is available for blind or visually impaired audience members, done by none other than Old Major himself after his short (albeit vital) amount of time on the stage. Collaborating with disabled actors and creatives to ensure that shows can be enjoyed by everyone is something I always hope to see more of in theatre, so I love that this production not only values accessibility, but actively tries to make it an integral part of the show.
I had high hopes for this adaptation, given its source material, but it actually exceeded my expectations. Animal Farm is raw, vigorous and profound; unflinching in its portrayal of inequality that leaves you breathless long after the curtains have drawn.
Animal Farm plays at Theatre Royal Stratford East until March 8th
For tickets and information visit https://www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/animal-farm
Photos by Kirsten McTernan