Awestruck as Orwell’s tale is brought to life
Animal Farm is a staggeringly spectacular production with more than 30 giant animals on stage.
Created by the same designer who brought War Horse to the stage, the award-winning Toby Olie, this production will leave you awestruck.
The animals are amazing structures and the incredible movement is created on stage by actors who are beautiful mime, dance and live theatre performers with an extraordinary sense of puppetry.
There are parts of the production when you really are completely spellbound.
When the barn door opens to reveal the giant horse Boxer with an explosion of light and sound it is the most incredible theatrical spectacle.
It is an amazing performance by the whole team of cast, puppetry and technical experts and it all comes together beautifully, the puppeteers work together with perfect timing and the movement of the animals is extraordinary.
Every character apart from the farmer is an animal, with over 30 lifesize puppets, all operated by a team of masterful performers on stage in perfect symmetry.
Orwell’s masterpiece is of course more relevant than ever, with an audience of people young and old worried about events in Ukraine.
The packed audience who attended the first night at the Theatre Royal this week included large groups of teenagers studying the book for school exams.
They are a very lucky group of young people – they will never see a better performance of the book, which for many years has been a stalwart in the English curriculum.
After the play these teenagers spontaneously gave a standing ovation for the hugely talented team of puppeteers and artists.
Throughout the 90 minutes of the performance without interval they had remained spellbound in their seats, you could hear a pin drop during the play, which has brought a new and incredibly visual meaning to Orwell’s great work.
It is technically and creatively an immense piece of theatre – revolutionary, excuse the pun – and it is one of those occasions when you feel lucky to be seated at the Theatre Royal Bath to witness such an extraordinary performance.
■ Animal Farm continues at the Theatre Royal until Saturday, March 5. For tickets visit www.theatreroyal. org.uk or ring 01225448844.