Animal Farm at Teatret ved Sorte Hest

George Orwell described his novel, Animal Farm, as a “fairy story “. Written in the 1940s as a criticism of Soviet communism and dictator Josef Stalin, it is nevertheless very modern and thought-provoking, providing parallels with the manipulations of today’s political authoritarian power elite and dictators.

The story is about an animal rebellion on Manor Farm. The humans are pushed out and the animals take charge of their own affairs. All animals are equal, according to the new principles of Animalism. But it is the pigs who teach themselves to read and become the new ruling class, eventually trading with humans at neighbouring farms, rewriting the rebellion's history, imposing rigid rules on the other animals, enforcing politically correct thinking and hoarding the best food for themselves.

Vivienne McKee has dramatised the story for 3 actors: herself, Kevin Keirnan Molloy and Andrew Jeffers, who play the horses, cows, sheep, hens, dogs and pigs on the farm, with help from the audience. The result is funny, inspiring, exciting, frightening and poignant.

It also shows us that Animal Farm is an allegory worth revisiting and leaves us with questions: Does human nature really change? Aren't we animals too?