Ever since 1945, when George Orwell published his anthropomorphised farmyard allegory of the Russian revolution and Soviet slide into totalitarianism, it has felt newly relevant in whichever era it is revived, not least our own of contested truths and lies. But it speaks especially loudly in a week when Vladimir Putin risks being confirmed as Russia’s latter-day Napoleon – the pugnacious boar and autocratic leader of Animal Farm.
Robert Icke adapts and directs this startlingly handsome production, its story enacted mostly through puppets designed by Toby Olié of War Horse fame. There are fluttering pigeons, squabbling hens, muscular horses, characterful geese and of course the thuggish pigs, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer, who come to be the “more equal” animals on the farm, and who have big, sinister faces.
