Olivier Award winner Robert Icke (Oresteia, Mary Stuart, The Doctor) is set to adapt and direct George Orwell’s Animal Farm in a new production which will tour the UK in 2022.
Orwell’ seminal classic, a timely and thought provoking piece on the cult of personality, power and dystopian dictatorship follows a group of farm animals who rebel against their human master in the hope of creating a society that is equal, free and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed by one of their own, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.
Orwell wrote the fable as a reflection of the events leading up to the Russian revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. A fierce critic of Stalin, he believed the Soviet Union had become a brutal dictatorship enforced by the cult of personality surrounding Stalin.
In a statement, Icke said, “I could not be more excited to bring this important and timely story to a broad and diverse audience across the U.K., and work alongside two of the industry’s most talented artists: Bunny and Toby.”
Produced by the Children’s Theatre Partnership, the production features designs by Olivier winner Bunny Christie (Company, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and puppetry by Toby Olié (Don Quixote, War Horse, The Grinning Man).
Icke and Christie previously collaborated on The Red Barn at London’s National Theatre.
Casting, venues and dates (including a likely West End transfer) for Animal Farm are set to be announced later.
