Summer 2008, Castle Garden at Oxford Castle |
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Orwell’s moving allegory of the defeat of the Bolshevik revolution and the triumph of Stalinism is a timeless one, as relevant today as it was in the 1940s. Ian Wooldridge’s 1982 adaptation of the book for the stage retains its essence and verve, but the director of Creation Theatre’s latest production, Joanna Read, has fiddled unnecessarily with confusing effect. Transferring to stage a story whose main characters are pigs, horses, sheep and other farmyard animals is not easy, but Read chooses to bookend a perfectly good adaptation with a prison motif. This is an obvious nod to the surroundings – the production is staged in the old exercise grounds of Oxford prison – but it makes no sense to have human prisoners (who share the names of the animal characters) inexplicably morph into the animals during a break from being harassed by the warder, Mr Jones. To see human prisoners railing against the abuses of man has a weirdly misanthropic effect. It also jars when, with the main story complete, the animals morph back into this prison setting and the rule of the warder is restored. While this might reference the eventual collapse of Stalinism into something little more admirable, the whole force of the book’s devastating climax – when the animals look from pig to man and man to pig and can no longer tell the difference – is lost. This is not merely a return to previous conditions after a brief interlude, as the prison motif suggests, but a more sinister message about humans’ capacity to create new conditions for their own oppression. The motif is completely superfluous. It would have been a better show without it. The cast labour splendidly to make the production work, but they are simply too few of them to succeed. Boxer (James Hogg), for instance, morphs from prisoner to Old Major to Boxer to Dog to Sheep and so on, in rapid, confusing succession. None of the characters save Napoleon have much permanence. This puts huge demands on the cast’s physical energy and versatility, and they do rise to the challenge, with Tomos James (Squealer) and Naomi Said (Mollie/ Moses/ Pilkington) particularly impressive and engaging. But their constant, schizophrenic struggle to play multiple roles means that the force of events on the farm are lost. Napoleon’s snarling dogs – ever-present in book – are hardly to be seen, so the farm’s atmosphere of menace emanates solely from Napoleon himself. During the show trials, the main characters must double-up as the victims being executed, so we lose any sense of how these events affect them in real time, and the cast have to scramble to display it afterwards. There are some wonderful moments in this production, like the ‘spontaneous demonstration’, but also some real bum notes, like the moment where Napoleon and Squealer walk upright, which transforms a moment of true horror into silly melodrama. The cast is excellent, but they have been let down by their director. Lee Jones, 30/07/08 This is such an inventive interpretation of the well known story by George Orwell; - the play was already "under way" as we took our seats in the atmospheric Castle Yard, with surly prisoners sweeping up the stage under the brutal direction of the prison warden. And then suddenly it was brutal Farmer Jones directing his animals, and we were seamlessly transported into the story of Animal Farm, where the cast of only six were utterly convincing as a full farm yard of horses, sheep, geese, dogs and the scheming pigs, all playing out the story of ideals and corruption. How six actors can be so many at the same time is quite amazing! The Creation Theatre are really in their element here - if you want a real treat for the imagination go and see Animal Farm - and then Much Ado, and then Midsummer Nights Dream... MES, 28/07/08 As can be expected with any creation performance the show was very well performed and it was a great adaption of the book. I really enjoyed the performance. But after buying 2 tickets at £19 each I was hugely disapointed that the play lasty barely 1 hr and 15 mins!!! I realise it is a short book and it needs to keep a pace but it seemed a complete copout and looked as if it had been done to finish 15 mins before the other show next door, in order to save on staff!!! Overall a great show but so short it seems far too expensive for the price. 28/07/08 |
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