"Animal Farm" by George Orwell (12-15 Oct 2022)

Poster

George Orwell published Animal Farm five years before his untimely death at the age of 46, while Stalin was still in power, and before the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the break-up of the USSR. What would he have made of Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Probably, “Here we go again, only the names have changed. The same old murder of ideals and democracy.” His satire on the failures of the Soviet Union would, sadly, fit any number of 20th and 21st century tyrannies: the lust for power and the greed personified by the pig Napoleon, the betrayal of the workers exemplified by poor Boxer, the trusting Stakhanovite horse. Freedom of speech, the privacy of the ballot box etc remain as important -and as threatened - as they ever were.

​Footnote: Alexey Stakhanov was a Soviet miner who, in the 1930s, allegedly regularly exceeded his daily quota of coal and was held up as a model worker.

Photos

What they said
​"Well done all! Really good and brought back memories from when I studied it at school aeons ago" Guy F

"Fab job everyone!!  The boy narrator was AMAZING!" Flora B

"Yes! Really great show! Wonderful characters! Fantastic masks! Shocking how relevant the play is! So well done! 😽" Arabella H-C

"Great show all Animal Farm stars!!! A fantastic evening, it’s so flippin’ topical and relevant today and Act 2 is tough but very powerful. Well done Bryony and all the players, tremendous stuff !" David B

"Congratulations on Animal Farm! I thought it was fantastic!!" Ruth V

"Praise for last night’s performance: it told the story well, fun, and the animals moving in small groups worked well" Rachel F

"Congratulations to everyone involved in Animal Farm. It was a great joy, right from the start—seeing you all in animal masks told us we were in for a fun evening and so it was. Audrey was also bouncing in her seat in excitement throughout. She loved it. You’ve all done so well and come so far, even since I was last in rehearsal. Well done, Bryony and all of you. Enjoy a cracking last night!" Paul S

"What an terrific performance - so harrowing in its telling. You all created such a fantastic band of players, hitting challenging dialogue and group speak in such powerful ways. It was all so horrifyingly relevant for our times - for any time, sadly, but ever more so right now. I will be thinking of this show for a long time. Hearty congratulations to you all." Allison dF

Programme
2210_animal_farm_prog.pdf
File Size: 1288 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Cast

THE BOY (Jacob Hodgins)
JONES/FARMER (Chris Hulatt)
OLD MAJOR / MOSES / WHYMPER / PILKINGTON (Jim Simpson)
NAPOLEON (Alex Jupp)
SQUEALER (Jonny Wiles)
SNOWBALL / MINIMUS (Elizabeth Ollier)
BOXER/FARMER (Alastair Dewar)
CLOVER  (Imogen Measday)
BENJAMIN  (Chris Jones)
MURIEL  (Tessa Dunn)
MOLLIE / YOUNG PIG / HEN (Rachel Fay)
CAT / YOUNG PIG  (Annie Hayes-Allan)
HENS / PIGEONS  (Kay Porter, Jo Harry, Amelia Barker)
SHEEP / COWS  (Sue Darrieulat, Sue Shorter)
FARMERS  (Christine Lee, Susan Johnson)​

Crew

Director (Bryony Wilman)
Stage Manager (Christine Lee)
Props (Susan Johnson)
Sound and Lighting (Ian Trowbridge, Gareth Sammer and Andy Rooney)
Front of House (Members & Friends of St Michael's Players)