Farm der Tiere

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

A musical in ten chapters based on George Orwell.

Running time: approx. 2.5 hours with an intermission; spoken in German with songs in English

Old Major cleared his throat and sang. His voice was indeed a bit raspy, but he sang well enough, and it was a rousing melody, something between “My Darling Clementine” and “La Cucaracha.” The lyrics went:
 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 listened in harmony on the straw in the barn to the legacy of the award-winning breeding boar, Old Major.

A revolt against the old farmer Jones follows, and overnight the animals become their own rulers. All animals are equal. But which animals are more equal? The pigs, of course. Because they can even recite the alphabet from A to Z…

George Orwell’s analysis of the inevitable dynamics of totalitarian mechanisms—written in the mid-1940s—remains alarmingly relevant today. His perspective on demagogues and tyrants, accomplices and followers, as well as on the handling of real and fake news, the distortion of history, the exclusion of dissenters, and the behavior of those in power, seems highly relevant today. A timeless masterpiece of world literature and a musical fairy tale full of dark humor.

Wilde & Vogel, Feisel, and Comrades: this is a team of very different people with diverse artistic expressions. To stay with the imagery of *Animal Farm*: old pigs and young ducklings come together—some can read better, others work with greater endurance; one sews, another drums, and the rest sing fervently in the choir. Together, under the direction of Michael Vogel and with an adaptation by Janne Weirup, they developed this production.

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

• Direction, Set Design: Michael Vogel
• Dramaturgy, adaptation: Janne Weirup
• Cast:Alexandra Gosławska, Mechtild Nienaber, Samira Wenzel, Stefan Wenzel
• Live musicby Johannes Frisch, Aline Patschke, Philipp Scholz, Charlotte Wilde, and Stefan Wenzel
• Puppets: Mechtild Nienaber, Michael Vogel, Samira Wenzel
• Set Design, Props: Florian Feisel, Stefan Wenzel
• Songs: Composition and Lyricsby Aline Patschke, Stefan Wenzel, Charlotte Wilde
• Composition of the Overture: Aline Patschke
• Metalwork: Christian Schmit
• Choreography for the Can-Can: Therese Banzhaf
• Hand Choreography for “Mr. Big Pig”: Alexandra Gosławska, Aline Patschke
• Set Design Assistants: Jette Emuth, Judith Eckhardt
• Specialthanks toJim Whiting