About the Play:

Animal Farm is a full-length drama adapted for the stage by Ian Wooldridge from the novel of the same name by George Orwell. Mr. Jones is forced to abandon his farm by his mistreated animals and the opportunities for a new life and a fresh start where all animals are equal seems like an exciting new dawn. But gradually the promises crumble to reveal a regime of propaganda and force as some animals emerge more equal than others. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

Animal Farm is a tale of oppression, revolution and betrayal set amongst the animals in a farm. When the downtrodden animals on Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr. Jones and take over and run the farm for themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. The experiment is successful, except that someone has to take the deposed farmer's place. Leadership devolves upon the pigs, which are cleverer than the rest of the animals. Unfortunately, their character is not equal to their intelligence. A cunning ruthless elite among them starts to take control, and the other animals find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is gradually replaced with another. One of the most important books of the 20th Century, George Orwell's chilling fairy story is a timeless and devastating satire of idealism betrayed by power and corruption and has given the world at least one immortal phrase: "Some are more equal than others." Ian Wooldridge's dramatization remains faithful to George Orwell's original, retaining both its affection for the animals and the incisiveness of its message.

Animal Farm was first performed in 1982 by TAG Theatre Company at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. It was revived in 1992 at Northern Stage in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and subsequently toured throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. Animal Farm has become a popular choice for middle school, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 6 to 12 actors. Cast expandable to as many as desired.

What people say:

"Orwell was the great moral force of his age." — The Spectator

"Ian Wooldridge's adaptation makes the text as engagingly relevant as ever." — Evening Standard

"Dare I say it ... as good as the book." — The Guardian

"Adeptly brought to the stage by Ian Wooldridge." — The Oxford Times

About the Playwright:

Ian Wooldridge is a freelance director and acting teacher. He was artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh, and TAG Theatre Company, based at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow.

George Orwell (1903-1950), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, won a scholarship to Eton then served in the Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-27, where his experiences of colonialism stayed with him for life. His first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), described his experiences in both cities of living on the poverty line. In The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) he wrote about the unemployed in the North of England, but before it was published he left for Spain and fought for the Republicans in the Civil War, as described in his Homage to Catalonia (1938). He had by then also written three realistic novels, but it was the political allegorical Animal Farm in 1945 that won him worldwide fame, which was redoubled with the publication in 1949, just before his death the following year, of his most famous novel, 1984.