Actresses breathe new life into school setwork
THE more cynical among us have a vague impression of the “selfie” generation as being sheep-like: easy to manipulate and prone to following blithely where others herd them. But a South African stage adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm has been playing to high school pupils who are alert, switched on and well on their way to becoming active and informed.
Napoleon the pig would not be impressed. He’s the one who, following the socialist revolution on the farm, ends up being as despotic as the animals’ former masters, systematically eroding their hardwon freedom.
It’s this cycle of the oppressed becoming the oppressors, of absolute power corrupting absolutely, that forms the pivot of the forthcoming public season of Animal Farm.
Adapted by former Standard Bank Young Artist Neil Coppen, this school setwork is being presented at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre from August 25 to September 6. It will also be at the Hilton Arts Festival in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands from September 18 to 20.
The play, commissioned by innovative young theatre company ShakeXperience, has already been seen by more than 8,000 high school pupils in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal over the past year and has won two Naledi Theatre Awards — for best production for young audiences and best ensemble.
Published in 1945, Orwell’s novel continues to hit home as a clever satirical allegory about the corrosive nature of power. It’s a no-brainer that readers and audiences still relate it to one of several tyrannical regimes around the world.
But the extent to which young South Africans have engaged with its themes — and vigorously so — has astounded.
“It’s been tough and challenging, but a fun and exciting experience,” says Khutjo Bakunzi-Green, Naledi- winning actress who has been part of the all-female Animal Farm cast for the past 18-plus months.
Bakunzi-Green is no stranger to tackling meaty issues in her stage work, acknowledging with a laugh that she’s becoming “the poster child for social commentary”.
“What’s been most valuable, though, has been the feedback sessions we’ve had afterwards with the learners, seeing what critical thinkers they are,” she says.
“People think that born-frees know nothing about history or apartheid, but they have been airing their views and perceptions, and seeing the social commentary in the piece. They are asking: ‘But what can we do? What change can we make?’ Their conversations have brought life to Animal Farm.”
Marie Sachet, production manager at ShakeXperience, says the play has been well received by both schoolchildren and teachers, and its continued success with these “closed” audiences sparked repeated calls for a public run.
“Critical thinking is a very important part of the education process. But Animal Farm is also a fable and an allegory using animals, which means there’s space for students to use their imagination and form their own interpretations.”
ShakeXperience was created out of a desire to make William Shakespeare’s works, and other school setworks, accessible and easy to understand. It has presented John Kani’s play Nothing but the Truth for schools, and toured to rural schools and community centres with adaptations of short stories such as Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, James Thurber’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Can Themba’s Dube Train.
Intriguingly, the theatre company also uses the arts to conduct corporate team-building, strategy, project management and diversity workshops, involving participants so that “it becomes a learning experience in which they are actively participating and enjoying themselves”.
“Traditional methods (of conveying information) — be they in the corporate boardroom or school classroom — are seen as boring. Creative methods can help people learn better,” says Sachet, adding that next on their to-do list is crafting a stage production around the science curriculum.
“Art is such an important weapon to talk about social ills,” says Bakunzi-Green.