A Noise Within presents Peter Hall’s musical adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Music by Richard Peaslee and lyrics by Adrian Mitchell. Directed by Julia Rodriguez–Elliott.
George Orwell was a leftist who participated in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, joining the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), one of the factions supporting the Republican government. The influence of Stalin on the Republicans in Spain lead Orwell to write against the deceiving and repressive regime of Stalin. Animal Farm is an allegoric play where characters and different sectors of the Soviet Union are represented.
The story pierces the power veil and allows us to see the formation of a political class that not only controlled the lives of millions within the Soviet Union but also the lives of many more around the world.
The animals are neglected by Mr. Jones (Bert Emmett), the owner of the farm, so the animals start a revolt to take control and improve their living conditions. Once Mr. Jones is gone, the animals make plans to change things for the better. However, as time goes by, the pigs seize all the power. The pigs are Squealer (Trisha Miller), Minimus (Cassandra Marie Murphy), Old Major (Geoff Elliott), Snowball (Stanley Andrew Jackson), and their leader Napoleon (Rafael Goldstein). The pigs are the ones who eat well, learn how to write and read, and give the orders. The animals who do all the hard work are Boxer (Geoff Elliott) the workhorse, Clover (Deborah Strang) the carthorse, Benjamin (Jeremy Rabb) the donkey, and Muriel (Philicia Saunders) the goat. The rest of the animals are Mollie (Nicole Javier) a vain horse, the lazy Cat (Sedale Threatt Jr.), Moses (Cassandra Marie Murphy) a raven who likes to talk but doesn’t work, and the Puppy Dogs (Cassandra Marie Murphy and Nicole Javier) trained by Napoleon to become ruthless killing machines. Mr. Pilkington (Sedale Threatt Jr.) is a local gentleman farmer.
Even though the pig Old Major wants to establish a fair system where all the animals are equal, Napoleon changes the words of some of the 7 commandments to fit his personal gains. He changes one of the commandments from “All animals are equal” to “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” At the beginning, there are debates to talk about projects and common goals and all animals participate. In these meetings, the two leaders, Napoleon and Snowball, soon start to disagree on major ideas. As Napoleon starts to gather more power, Snowball is pushed to the side and he mysteriously disappears.
Meanwhile, the rest of the animals are forced to work harder to build a windmill with the promise that the project will bring prosperity to all. Napoleon however, doesn’t keep his word; the windmill takes longer to complete and is eventually destroyed by a neighboring farmer. As all of this is happening, the animals are overworked, hungry, and unable to complaint. Napoleon dissolves the debates with the excuse that they are no longer needed since everyone needs to trust his leadership. The pigs start to arrest, incriminate, and execute the dissenting animals. Eventually, the initial happiness gives way to pessimism, passiveness, duplicity, and hopelessness. The beloved old Boxer, despite all the misery of the working animals, decides to keep his loyalty to Napoleon, hoping to see better days ahead. “Napoleon is always right” and “I will work harder” were two phrases he kept on saying again and again.
Since the play is an allegory, the characters represent some of the most influential characters in modern history. After the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin become the leader of the Soviet Union. Napoleon is a representation of this repressive leader. Boxer the workhorse represents the working class, the ones that get indoctrinated with false promises of a better life. Clover the carthorse is the feminine side of the working class. Mollie the horse is the bourgeoisie class. Moses, the raven who talks about the “Sugarcandy Mountain” where all animals go when they die, depicts the Russian Orthodox Church. The Puppies/Dogs represent Stalin’s secret police.
Snowball, the boar that was a part of the pigs leaders, is a character representing Leon Trotsky. As with Napoleon in Animal Farm, there was a power struggle and only one was going to prevail. In Animal Farm, Snowball was chased out of the farm by Napoleon’s dogs. In real life, Trotsky was banned from the Soviet Union by Stalin. After living as an uncomfortable guest in Turkey, France, and Norway, Trotsky finally settled down in Mexico in 1937 in the house of painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. But Stalin wanted him dead. On May 24th, 1940, leftist muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros (who, like Orwell, fought with the Republicans in Spain) and a group of men carried out an attack on Trotsky’s residence using automatic firearms. Trotsky and his wife hid and survived, but the message was clear: his days were counted. On August 20th, 1940, Trotsky was attacked with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader, a Spanish agent working for Stalin’s NKVD forces (this secret forces personified by the Puppies/Dogs in the play). Trotsky suffered a brain injury and died the following day. Stalin’s goal was finally achieved.
Two important aspects portrayed in the play are the accumulation of wealth by the ruling party by controlling the means of production and the indoctrination of the masses to have them under control. Nobel laureate Octavio Paz said in an interview in 1977: “The greatest criminal in the 20th century is the state, specially in those countries where the state owns the means of production and the ideology, and by owning the means of production and the ideology, the state owns the work product and the souls.”
The portrayal of a turbulent period that happened decades ago somehow feels contemporaneous. The tactics seem to be the same. Authoritarian regimes control the flow of information using media, religion, and access to education. It is much easier to control an uneducated population than an educated one. In the play, Squealer is used to instill in the uneducated animals the idea that their lives are much better under Napoleon’s leadership, even if they are overworked and hungry.
As for the actors, Geoff Elliot offers a tremendous performance doubling up as the idealistic Old Major and the hopeful Boxer that is willing to sacrifice his well-being to keep a dream alive, but ultimately succumbing to his tragic fate. Rafael Goldstein stands out as the cold and calculating leader that manipulates the people around him for his own benefit. Trisha Miller and Cassandra Marie Murphy deliver a phenomenal depiction of the heartless enforcers and supporters of the new authoritarian regime. Jeremy Rabb offers a compelling personification of a devastating transition from a funny character to a pessimist and passive observer of the corruption around him.
The dystopian costumes, wigs, make up, and masks (Angela Balogh Calin, scenic and costume designer, Tony Valdés, wig and make up designer, Dillon Nelson, mask artisan) contribute to give each character their unique personality. They also highlight the sinister change of status of the pigs from farm animals to despotic leaders in military uniforms. The lighting effects (Ken Booth, lighting designer) are a powerful component. The colors and the intensities play very well with the scenic design, the music numbers, and the tense story itself. Rodriguez-Elliot delivers an impressive production with plenty of kinetics that make great use of the stage, including the actors coming in and out of the aisles. Her directorial skills are a testament of the excellence in theatre in Los Angeles.
How easy it is to go from freedom to tyranny? Animal Farm exposes the fragility of political systems and the dangers associated with government transitions, even when the leaders of the change promise the moon and the stars. Change after all, can be deceiving. As Tancredi Falconeri stated in the Italian novel Il Gattopardo “If we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change”.
Animal Farm
Adapted for the stage by Peter Hall from the novel by George Orwell. Music by Richard Peaslee. Lyrics by Adrian Mitchell. Directed by Julia Rodriguez–Elliott. Musical Direction by Rod Bagheri. Starring Geoff Elliott, Bert Emmett, Rafael Goldstein, Stanley Andrew Jackson III, Nicole Javier, Trisha Miller, Cassandra Marie Murphy, Jeremy Rabb, Philicia Saunders, Deborah Strang, Sedale Threatt Jr. Presented by A Noise Within, Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, producing artistic directors.
A Noise Within
3352 E Foothill Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107
Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.: Sept. 29 ONLY
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: Sept. 9**, Sept. 16**, Sept. 23**, Sept. 30
• Saturdays at 2 p.m.: Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 (no matinee on Sept. 3)
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Sept. 3 (Opening Night), Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: Sept. 4, Sept. 11**, Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2
*Pre-performance symposium with noted scholar at 6:45 p.m. prior to the preview on August 31 (included in ticket price)
**Post-performance conversations with the artists on Fridays, Sept. 9; Sept.16; Sept. 23; and Sept. 30, and on Sunday, Sept. 11 (included in ticket price)
An INsiders Discussion Group will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 6 p.m.–8 p.m. on Zoom ($38 per individual or $45 per household).
There will be 10 student matinees at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6; Wednesday, Sept. 7; Tuesday, Sept. 13; Wednesday, Sept. 14; Thursday, Sept. 15; Tuesday, Sept. 20; Wednesday, Sept. 21; Thursday, Sept. 22; Tuesday, Sept. 27; and Wednesday, Sept. 28. Interested educators should email education@anoisewithin.org.
Tickets: www.anoisewithin.org
