STRATFORD EAST THEATRE – UNTIL 8th MARCH 2025
REVIEWED BY JACKIE THORNTON
4****
“All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.” As George Orwell’s iconic fable turns 80, this bold and energetic new staging swaps the original’s critique of Stalinism for a wider study of societal inequalities that lays bare the best and worst of human nature. Though the content may be focused on imbalances of power and participation, this production has skilfully integrated British Sign Language and audio description into the show, ensuring no audience member’s experience is less equal than others. Award-winning playwright Tatty Hennessy’s adaptation doesn’t shy away from unsettling scenes of violence and despair but also injects warmth, humour and intimacy.
Particular highlights are pigeon Milo (Em Prendergast) scootering in to bring us up to date with local gossip and some great animal puns; Farshid Rokey’s laddish and hilarious portrayal of Minty the sheep; Shakeel Kimotho as Molly the prized horse who refuses to dispense with her ribbons.
Working with the National Youth Theatre, director Amy Leach’s vision strives to ensure modern resonance by lingering on how the circumstances we are born into are never our
choice yet impact massively on our ability to thrive or not. A cast of varying regional accents, ages, ethnicities and disabilities all labouring as animals with little hope of reward reinforces this point. It’s also beautifully illustrated in Gabriel Paul’s raw and captivating performance as Boxer the horse with his unwavering desire to die knowing he built something. Brydie Service’s Clara, the tragic mother hen who must surrender her young, is just as charged while Tianah Hodding as Clover, the ever-loving yet gullible horse, earns our affection and sympathy and anchors us to the story throughout.
Hayley Grindle’s clever set and costume design draws on industrial farming, employing large mesh cages for the animals to painstakingly move around the stage in demonstration of their toil. Split level staging positions the comfortable living room of nemesis Farmer Jones (Kaya Ulasli) in a glass box above the exposed, grim barn and farmyard below. A constant reminder of the glaring inequality.
What really shines through is the brutality of farm labour and the relentlessness of a life lived with no autonomy. Indeed Benjamin the donkey (David Nellist), aptly dressed in adonkey jacket, glumly states that if you’re at the bottom of the pile, the daily grind never lets up regardless of who’s in charge. So after the animals revolt and when Snowball the pig (Robin Morrissey) is every bit the political idealist) and brother Napoleon (the very watchable Tachia Newall) vie for leadership, it’s safe to say the heady days of full rations, democratic decrees and joyous singing of ‘Beasts of England’ don’t last long. as Squealer plays the part of the sly pig with relish and Joshua-Alexander WIlliams makes a ferocious yet loyal Blue the dog. We may be watching humans play animals but human nature is there to be exposed in all of its facets: greed, grief, loyalty, anger, love, revenge.
A gripping and thought-provoking rendition of the much studied novella, full of youthful energy and ripe to cause sparks in the 21st Century