Animal Farm
The play is based on George Orwell’s 1945 novella originally published as Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. Do not be fooled by the sub-title. It is no children’s material, its imagery is wholly bleak, and its humour dark, if not absent at all.
Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word – Man. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.”
When the animals at Manor Farm hear the rousing speeches of the star of the farm, the prized boar Old Major, they become fed up with their mistreatment at the hands of the alcoholic farmer Jones. Gathered around the pigs as leaders, all animals, cows, horses, sheep, dogs, donkeys, hens and other poultry alike, heed the calls for rebellion. After they do manage to oust the evil Man, and the farm becomes their own, the inevitable path begins towards the ultimate freedom. Freedom from all and everything…