ANIMAL FARM: Touring to 19 March
Animal Farm: George Orwell, adapted by Ian Wooldridge
Touring: info www.northernstage.com
Runs: 1h 30m, no interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 14 May 2003, Birmimgham Rep
Theatrical, exciting, true to the original while extending it.
Northern Stage's staged version is more than an adaptation. It's true to the story but extends, updates and truly theatricalises Orwell's parable. In this production, for instance, the story is told by a group of dispossessed refugees. The company speaks of its ensemble style this is a major strength of their work.
We're most of us familiar with this story of the animals who throw humans off their farm to run it themselves on the basis that 'All animals are equal'. However, the pigs soon take charge changing the basic tenet to 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' and end up sleeping in beds, getting drunk and eventually walking on two feet. In this production the actors retain just enough animal characteristics to keep the essence of the tale: within their physical, often exuberant, style their acting (their physicalisation) is subtle.
Neil Murray's set makes a great contribution to the animal feel too. A simple straightforward metal backdrop and a bath full of water. But best of all an earthy-sandy floor. Characters repeatedly go to the bath, dipping heads in, pouring water over themselves, immersing themselves. Rolling, sitting, lying on the ground later they become covered with soil. The effect is immediate and dramatic.
Peter Peverley's Squealer binds the story together: he is an intriguing mixture of reasonableness and self-seeking. Rebecca Hollingsworth's Clover is much to be admired too, her patient insistence on discovering the truth of the past and frustration at not quite understanding what's going on is genuinely moving.
The often pounding rhythms of the sound track and highly energised performances grab your attention throughout. Amid all this, though, I wonder if some moments don't need closer attention: Boxer's illness and death, the growing discovery of words added on to basic rules to change them pass too fast and sharpness of focus is momentarily lost.
But this is gripping stuff and young people studying the book seeing this production will have much, very much, to talk about afterwards.
Boxer/ Moses: Francisco Alfonsin
Clover: Rebecca Hollingsworth
Major/ Napoleon: Jim Kitson
Snowball/ 2nd Pigeon: Stephen Lamb
Storyteller/ Farmer Jones/ 1st Pigeon/ Benjamin: Mark Lloyd
Squealer: Peter Peverley
Mollie/ Minimus: Sophie Trott
Director: Alan Lyddlard
Design: Neil Murray
Choreography: Frank McConnell
Restaging: Caroline Reece
Lighting: Tina MacHugh
Sound: Rob Brown
Original Songs: Jim Kitson
Original Design: Cath Hieatt
2003-05-14 10:39:58