The Octagon has collaborated with Derby Theatre and Hull Truck on this revival from director Iqbal Khan of Ian Wooldridge's 1982 adaptation of George Orwell's parable about totalitarianism in Stalin's Soviet Union. It could still have something to say about modern-day Russia and a few other countries, despite some of them being dressed in the trappings of democracy.
On the poorly run Manor Farm, the animals revolt against the farmer, Mr Jones, after the death of Old Major (Polly Lister), the wise old boar, and decide to run it based on the Major's Marxist-Leninist teachings that reject all things human in favour of a system of government he called 'animalism': "four legs good, two legs bad". Seven commandments are drawn up and painted on the side of the barn, the most important of which is "all animals are equal".
The farm is renamed Animal Farm and the pigs take charge, particularly Napoleon (Ida Regan) and Snowball (Samater Ahmed). After some clashes over policy, Snowball, Trotsky-like, disappears, and Napoleon, with the help of his propagandist and enforcer Squealer (Killian Macardle), rewrites history to portray Snowball, despite his award for heroism in the Battle of the Cowshed (when Mr Jones tries to retake the farm), as a traitor and collaborator. The pigs gradually become more like the regime they replaced and the commandments don't seem to say what the older animals remember them saying any more, especially the last, which has acquired the famous addendum: "...but some animals are more equal than others."
The novel is a clever and witty satire that is short enough to be adapted into a two-hour stage production without losing great deal. Khan's production tells the story through an ensemble of six actors (plus an understudy: Olivia Chandler) who all play multiple roles; apart from those named above, Amy Drake is vain horse Mollie and raven Moses and Sam Black is the trusting old workhorse, Boxer. Their characters are distinguished by skeletal animal heads worn on top of their own heads and movements and vocal sounds based on those of the animal portrayed. As they all walk on two legs throughout, the pigs' final transformation requires a bit of circus trickery.
Ciarán Bagnall has designed both set and lighting, creating an oppressive atmosphere with tall walls of corrugated metal for the barn and some very effective use of UV lights for the commandments and some of the movement scenes. There is some great work by movement director Shelley Eva Haden to create the animal characters, although some of the movement scenes, such as the battles and the destruction of the windmill, are a bit confusing. In the programme, Khan said he is portraying the farm as "a place of surveillance, where Farmer Jones, Man, lives in the technology," but I didn't get any of that from all the frantic dashing about.
While the production emphasises the physical, the script itself is very wordy, which at times takes great concentration, especially the mammoth opening speech from Old Major, despite being very well delivered by Lister. On the other hand, some scenes between the animals have them behaving like giggling young children, as though aimed at a younger audience, and there are some mutterings, possibly ad-libs, delivered for laughs which don't always fit with the atmosphere of the scene, all of which dilutes the allegory.
There are some notable aspects to the production and the cast can't be faulted at all for their commitment to the physicality of the concept, but as a whole it doesn't quite come together and feels longer than its two-hour running time.