In the organizer's words:

Wilde & Vogel [Leipzig], Florian Feisel [Stuttgart] and comrades

A musical in ten chapters based on George Orwell.

Duration: approx. 2.5 hours with intermission, in German spoken language with English songs

Old Major cleared his throat and sang. He actually had a brittle voice, but sang well enough, and it was a rousing melody, something between 'My Darling Clementine' and 'La Cucaracha'. The lyrics were: Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken to my joyful tidings of the golden future time.Animal Farm, George Orwell

Donkeys and horses, dogs and hens, ducks and pigs, cats and goats listen in harmony on the straw of the barn to the legacy of the prize-winning breeder Old Major.

A rebellion against the old farmer Jones ensues, and overnight the animals become their own rulers. All animals are equal. But which animals are more equal? Of course, the pigs. Because they can even read the alphabet from A to Z...

George Orwell's analysis of the inevitable dynamics of totalitarian mechanisms, written in the mid-1940s, is frighteningly topical. His view of demagogues and tyrannical rulers, followers and hangers-on, but also of the handling of true and fake news, the falsification of history, the exclusion of dissenters and the behavior of those in power seems highly topical. A piece of timeless world literature and a musical fairy tale full of grim wit.

Wilde & Vogel, Feisel and Comrades: a team of very different people with diverse forms of artistic expression. To stay with the image of the animal farm: old pigs and young ducklings come together, some can read better, others work more persistently, one sews, the other plays the drums, the others sing fervently in a choir. All together, under the direction of Michael Vogel and with a text version by Janne Weirup, developed this production.

in co-production with FITZ Stuttgart, T-Werk Potsdam and Westflügel Leipzig

• Director, stage Michael Vogel
• Dramaturgy, text by Janne Weirup
• Play Florian Feisel, Alexandra Gosławska, Mechtild Nienaber, Samira Wenzel, Stefan Wenzel
• Live music Johannes Frisch, Aline Patschke, Philipp Scholz, Charlotte Wilde, Stefan Wenzel
• Figures Mechtild Nienaber, Michael Vogel, Samira Wenzel
• Set, objects Florian Feisel, Stefan Wenzel
• Songs Composition and lyrics Aline Patschke, Stefan Wenzel, Charlotte Wilde
• Composition Ouverture Aline Patschke
• Metal construction Christian Schmit
• Choreography Can Can Therese Banzhaf
• Hand choreography Mr. Big Pig Alexandra Gosławska, Aline Patschke
• Assistance set design Jette Emuth, Judith Eckhardt
• Thanks to Jim Whiting