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Approaching the end of Animal Farm
11th March 2016Coming to the last week of Animal Farm we caught up with the cast for a glimpse into the unique production that is Tree Folk Theatre’s Animal Farm. They are of the opinion that this is a story very much relevant to the current political climate and therefore perhaps urgent that we all know the story. Orwell’s is an allegorical piece contemplating the events leading up to the Russian Revolution and eventually Stalinist Russia. In the story, Old Major gathers the farm animals and tells them of a vision he has that all animals live without the oppressive control of humans and they should all be working hard to actualise this. But when he dies, three pigs decide to continue his legacy by formulating his principles into a philosophy and defeating Mr Jones, the farmer. They prosper for a while however, prosperity and progression takes a turn for tyranny and grappling for power; Manor Farm being of no exception to the political history of tyrants repeating itself.
A vivid text and so much to create gave the ensemble a freedom to create plenty, with a degree of high-energy moments and exciting images emerging organically within rehearsals. Naturally a physically demanding rehearsal process was to be expected with Tree Folk Theatre’s approach to storytelling through use of puppetry, music, dance and physical theatre. It is said that the physical approach to discovering every animal’s personality and body is a very exciting part of the rehearsal process; its discipline is the very thing that makes the company distinguished, because it uses a mixture of techniques to bring a story to life in memorable way.
You can also catch up with Tree Folk Theatre on Animal Farm here youtu.be/_sFOKlMLbHs
