Animal Farm: A Stage Adaptation by Geordie Brookman by State Theatre Company, Study notes of Theatre

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Study with State

state theatre company presents

original story by george orwell stage adaptation by geordie brookman

Animal Farm

All animals are equal,

but some are more equal than others.

• animal Farm

running time approximately 80 minutes (no interval).

suitable for years 8-12.

synopsis

Animal Farm tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against the ruling farmer and the farming system. developing their own system and rules, the animals aim to create a farm where animals are equal and free, and humans are not welcome.

however, this sense of equality does not last long, with the pigs quickly taking advantage of other animals using their own intelligence. one of the stronger pigs, napoleon, soon takes power and starts to make changes that benefit his own sup- porters at the expense of the other animals.

eventually, the pigs become indistinguishable from the humans they were originally fighting against.

For more, watch the trailer for the show online: statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/animal-farm

Cast & Creatives

george orwell writer

geordie brookman director

bianka kennedy designer

alexander ramsay lighting designer

andrew howard sound designer& composer

clara solly-slade assistant director

dale march actor

mark heuer stage manager

costumes made by state theatre company wardrobe. set made by state theatre company workshop.

How does Orwell’s story resonate with contemporary issues

and audiences?

i think a great deal of george orwell’s writing is still relevant, which is a slightly scary thing.

orwell was writing largely in reaction to the massive political shift that happened around the first half of the 20th century – around the second world war, the rise of both western liberalism and communism, which, of course, became stalinism. i think the reason that it’s still relevant is that none of those systems have worked. it’s very easy for us to say fascism hasn’t worked; it’s easy for us to say that communism and stalinism didn’t work. i think the scary thing is to admit that western liberalism hasn’t worked. in a large way, many of us are richer than we have ever been – and yet, the world is more unequal than it has ever been.

orwell is absolutely ruthless and unforgiving about human nature. he kind of peers into our soul exactly the same way that he used to, and i guess he does it because we haven’t changed.

i think human beings really like not having to think. we love to give over permission to charismatic leaders or to systems of power so that we don’t have to take responsibility for our own actions and all the difficult parts of human existence. i think our relationship to power is largely born out of us being scared and lazy. it can seem easier to give over to power than to fight back.

What is the experience of seeingAnimal Farm?

i hope it will be an intense, connected piece of storytelling and a piece of very pure theatre. i’m starting to agree with the idea that contemporary television does realism so well that theatre’s job isn’t really to deliver realism anymore. you need to look for alternate views of the world and ways of experiencing things. i hope animal Farm provides the audience with provocations to think and feel, but also to think about storytelling and theatre in a slightly different way.

What next?

Our “What next?” sections include questions and activities based on previous pages. These can be used for individual reflection or as class exercises.

on page 6, director geordie brookman includes a quote from us academic timothy snyder: “history does not repeat itself, but it does instruct”.

what do you think timothy means with this statement? do you agree?

how might it relate to Animal Farm?

rehearsals oF animal Farm. l-r: clara solly-slade, geordie brookman, bianka kennedy, mark heuer & renato musolino. photo: robin mather.

Supporting materials

an interview with geordie brookman the illustrated guide to Animal Farm (incl. interview with geordie brookman)

links to these resources are under the Animal Farm drop-down menu at: statetheatrecompany.com.au/education-program

what does the term ‘character’ mean to you? i think ‘character’ is all the psychological, emotional, physical qualities that make up a person. it’s the features that delineate us from another person, the distinctive qualities that make us who we are and make us unique.

as an actor, you try and grasp at what makes each character unique – physically, emotionally and in terms of temperament. you look at a script and you take out the significant features and what makes someone different from someone else. you have to grasp onto who your character is as a person and align that with similar qualities within yourself.

do you think it’s important to make a personal connection with the characters you play? i think it’s vital to make a connection with whatever character you’re playing – that’s the most important thing that an actor has to do, to make it personal in some way, shape or form. i think if it’s not personalised it simply becomes a form of mimicry.

it’s essential to make it personal – not only in terms of making it personal as a character, but personalising the themes and the stories of the play within yourself. by doing this, you not only have something to say through a character but you have something to say to an audience. the more personal that you make it as an actor, the more personal it will be for an audience who is watching it.

what is the difference between playing animal and human characters? all of these animals have an emotional thing that they’re fighting against or fighting for – you have to grasp onto the core of what they represent. boxer, for example, represents the working class. he’s suffering. so i’ve tried to latch onto something i can identify with in his struggles. you can do that with each of the animals in the story. in all of them there’s a feature that is broader than simply being a characteristic of an animal.

Characterisation

an interview with renato musolino, original actor inanimal Farm

how do you bring a character to life? how does this process differ when you’re playing multiple characters? it’s great working with geordie [brookman, the director] because we both love to work physically. in designing these animals, we’ve been thinking about their tempo and rhythms. i think the biggest challenge has been discerning the characters of the pigs. there are four pigs that have quite dominant roles within the play. in playing these characters, you’ve got to have a characteristic that clearly defines them as a pig, as well as finding qualities that make them different from one another.

orwell’s given us some lovely clues about each character. For example, he says squealer is rapid with twinkling eyes, and that boxer is slower in speech. From those very broad baselines, you start to experiment and play with that sketch. does one gesture more with his hands? is it more about the mouth? or the nose? we try to define what part of the body is key to each particular animal – the horse’s head, the pig’s trotter, the sound of the chickens. we’ve spent a lot of time looking at tempos and rhythms, drawing out one distinctive feature of each animal.

what can people expect from Animal Farm? we want to make the book of Animal Farm feel immediate – to make it very visceral, very flesh and blood. we’re really attempting to bring the book to life and to make an audience feel the book rather than just think about it in an intellectual way.

i think most people know the basic story of Animal Farm, even if they haven’t read it. our challenge is to change their expectations or to make them look at the book in a new way.

pictured: renato musolino during rehearsals. photos: robin mather.

What next?

pick one or two characters from Animal Farm. what are the key differences between the chosen character(s) and the other characters in the story? how might they be similar to other characters?

list their physical features, their emotions and what they are aiming for in the story. think about how they might talk and what body parts they might use most.

choose a particular event in the story. For example, overthrowing mr Jones or the battle of the cowshed. write a diary entry from the point of view of your chosen character(s) as they reflect on this event.

perform the diary entry as a monologue. remember to keep the list of their physical features, emotions and other characteristics in mind in your performance.

leFt: an excerpt From the illustrated guide to animal Farm. right: a list oF snowball’s character traits and quailities.

Supporting materials

an interview with renato musolino: youtu.be/Javzn_iF0mm

while Animal Farm contains broad themes about leadership, power and corruption that can be applied to many political circumstances and historical events, there are direct parallels to the russian revolution. to better understand the links between Animal Farm and the russian revolution, we have included a brief description of the historical figure or concept each major character represents, along with a general description of the characters.

Exploring the characters

old maJor a wise, well-respected old pig who inspires the animals to rebel against the farmer and other humans. he passes away before the animal’s revolt against mr Jones.

old major represents karl marx, who inspired a communist uprising against the ruling class in 1848 through his book The Communist manifesto. he also represents vladimir lenin, a key leader in the russian revolution in october 1917 who followed marxist principles.

The pigs

snowball snowball is one of the leaders of the revolt and is popular among the animals. he is idealistic, intelligent, and likes strategy and organisation. snowball is later driven off the farm by napoleon and nasty rumours are spread about him.

snowball seeks to carry on the dream and ideal of old major and to continue making improvements to animal Farm. he is eventually driven off the farm by napoleon and the dogs. this is similar to the role of leon trotsky, an associate of lenin’s who was driven out of the soviet union by Joseph stalin.

What is the Soviet Union?

the soviet union, or the union of soviet socialist republics (ussr), formed after the February and october revolutions in 1917, which saw the communist party take power in russia. it was a socialist state that existed from december 1922 to december 1991. it was the largest country in the world, covering northern asia, parts of eastern europe and even extending into the middle east.

boxer a loyal, hard-working cart-horse, boxer is the strongest of the farm animals. he is easily convinced by squealer’s lies and wishes to believe that napoleon is always right. he is eventually betrayed by napoleon.

The other animals

clover a cart-horse and good friend of boxer’s. clover sometimes doubts what the pigs are saying, but assumes she is not correctly remembering things and so dismisses her doubts.

boxer and clover represent the working class during the russian revolution – their belief in the cause, their susceptibility to propaganda, their hard work, the struggles they face with getting enough to eat under stalin’s rule, etc.

leFt to right: boxer, clover and benJamin. drawings by anthony nocera For state theatre company.

benJamin a bad-tempered old donkey, benjamin is doubtful of the other animals’ idealism. although he is intelligent and often notices when the pigs are misleading the other animals, he avoids taking action to stop them or make change.

benjamin is thought to represent the older generation, who recognise when stalin and his supporters begin manipulating others but do not take any action against them.

the dogs napoleon raises a group of puppies in isolation from the other animals. these dogs become his own personal guard. they threaten and even kill those who are perceived to be working against napoleon.

the dogs represent stalin’s secret police and bodyguards.

the sheep the sheep are thought to be the stupidest of the animals, unable to comprehend more than basic ideas and instructions. they are blindly loyal to napoleon and chant slogans to serve his cause.

the hens the hens are some of the first animals to openly rebel against napoleon when he demands they give up all of their eggs.

the sheep and the hens also represent aspects of the working class – those who rebelled against stalin’s rule and those who blindly followed it.

The humans

mr Jones mr Jones is the farmer of manor Farm (later renamed animal Farm). the animals revolt against him because he whips them and doesn’t feed them enough food. mr Jones is known to have a drinking problem.

mr Jones represents tsar nicholas ii who was driven from power in russia during the February 1917 revolution.

mr Frederick the farmer of pinchfield, a smaller neighbouring farm. mr Frederick briefly enters into an alliance with napoleon and the animals, but cheats them and attempts to invade the farm.

mr Frederick represents adolf hitler and nazi germany. the relationship between the soviet union and nazi germany was strong for a number of years, but their agreements were abruptly terminated when germany invaded the soviet union in 1941.

mr pilkington the farmer of Foxwood, a large neighbouring farm. he is shown to be arguing with napoleon at the end of the story.

mr pilkington and his farm represent the united states of america.

how does the set for Animal Farm connect with or enhance the themes of the play? although we’re trying to strip everything away with this set, it was really important to me that there was still a connection to the story – that’s where the two platforms come into play.

the platforms were designed so that the dimensions, and the lighting bars across them, have a nod to the old stone windmill that’s referenced in the story. i looked at pictures of the stone windmills that would have been the sort of windmills mentioned the story. looking at these photos and drawings, you’ll see that they have that kind of triangle shape with crosses and really thin panels on them. i used those shapes and that concept to create the two platforms. these are then painted a glossy black using two pack paint, which needs a three day application process and is often used in the automotive industry or for kitchen cabinets.

geordie [brookman, the director] had this idea of using a gloss black somewhere in the set as a nod to the concept of the ‘black mirror’ of our device screens, so i’ve used this as the surface of the platforms. geordie shared his thoughts on how we consume news and media through our phones and other devices, reading or watching short snippets and not always getting the full story. there is a sense that people are not asking for the facts, that we are not making informed decisions and are not taking action – just like the animals in the story. i also think the idea of the old windmill is nicely counterbalanced by the glossy black, almost a reference to modern wind turbines, which creates a kind of duality of time.

we’ve got this reference to the old story, but we’ve also got a reference to our modern era, reminding us of how the story of Animal Farm is universal and still applies.

photos leFt to right (both pages): geordie brookman and bianka kennedy look at a costume; biank kennedy; a model oF the animal Farm seat, including Figure. photos: tash mccammon, robin mather & bianka kennedy.

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a draFt oF the set For animal Farm, designed in autocad. courtesy oF bianka kennedy.

the setting of Animal Farm is no different between george orwell’s book and state theatre company’s play - it is a farm in both. but the set design for this theatre production of animal Farm does not reflect its setting. instead, the set is abstract - it is more about the concept of the play than the actual location where it is set.

Abstract set design