EAA Afternoon: Fall

George Orwell’s Animal Farm 

Review: George Orwell’s Animal Farm – A Comparison of the Novella and the Stage Production

After reading the novella in English class, we saw the stage production of George Orwell’s Animal Farm at Schauspielhaus Graz. There were some severe differences between the two that I want to comment on.

George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm revolves around a farm, known as the animal farm. This farm’s animals suffer under the rule of their farmer, Jones. One day, motivated by an encouraging speech saying that the reason for all their agony are humans, the animals decide to rebel against their suppression by humans. In order to define their ideals, they find a doctrine called “Animalism” which should lead them into a better, equal and human free future. However, shortly after taking over the farm a new regime develops. The new upper class is formed by the pigs, which are the most intelligent individuals on the farm. At first, they only have some advantages over the other animals, but soon an authoritarian regime emerges. Yet, the animals, some simply not capable, some afraid, some too idealistic do not stop the development soon enough. In the end, the animals are just as unfree and exploited as under human rule. A new bourgeoisie has formed, and just like the humans, they live on the expense of the working class.

While Orwell puts a lot of effort in depicting the inequality, the drastic developments on the farm and making us readers think and question political systems, the play cannot live up to that. Not only are important characters changed in a way they lose their meaning, but also some important scenes are depicted as ridiculous. This is done by performing silly songs that remove the focus from the animals’ despair. While Orwell’s book gives the readers space to think by themselves, the play tells the audience what to think of the developments on the farm. For instance, this is represented by the way the 7 commandments (the rules that the animals came up with in the beginning to secure their ideals) are changed. On the contrary, in the book, the commandments are secretly changed. Additionally, only very few animals notice the changes, that justify their suppression by the pigs. Whereas the play highlights every act of changing the rules. 

Certainly, adapting the original story for a play can be referred to as artistic freedom and allows for modern interpretations which has the potential to make the performance much more meaningful. Furthermore, a new adaptation of the classic could also show where the author’s opinion does not go far enough. Especially the latter could change the meaning of a story quite a lot, however, I still believe that it could improve the overall performance.
Though, this is not true for this particular play. I believe that Orwell’s intention was to let the readers think for themselves and question what they read. Just as he wanted people to question real political systems. Therefore, we should definitely question not only this play, but also my review.

Side note: This text should not be understood as criticism of the actors, who did a very good job, but the script.

Thomas Kürbisch (6ew)

Posters by Stefanie Koller, Stefan Fröhle and Konstantin Krasser (6ew)