By Steve Simmons – Posted at 5:55 p.m., Sept. 3, 2022
How are dictators created? Famed novelist George Orwell paints a searing picture of how tyrants rise to power in his satirical allegorical 1945 novella Animal Farm.
Celebrated late British theatre director Peter Hall adapted the work into a musical first produced in London (ironically in 1984). Now Pasadena’s classical theatre company A Noise Within is presenting the beast fable, officially opening today, Saturday, Sept. 3 and running through Sunday, Oct. 2. (For details see below.)
Animal Farm chronicles the fall of idealism and the rise of tyranny after the animals of Manor Farm overthrow their inept, drunk and cruel owner Mr. Jones in a struggle for equality and freedom. Led by the idealistic pig, Snowball, they take over the farm. At first, the plan goes well, and all the animals work together and are equal and content. But eventually some of the pigs, led by Napoleon and Squealer, succumb to the lure of power and decide that “some animals are more equal than others.”
Orwell presents a tutorial on how to be a dictator and Animal Farm has all the guideposts—suspension of elections, rule by decree secret police, banishing and killing of enemies, creation of perceived enemies, fake news, forced confessions and a cult of personality. The novel is Orwell’s metaphor for Stalin’s rise to power after the Russian revolution, but his satire continues to resonate. In the behavior of Napoleon and his sycophants, audiences and readers can discern the lying and bullying schemes of autocrats like Pol Pot, Augusto Pinochet and Slobodan Milosevic.
Long time company member Rafael Goldstein plays Napoleon, Orwell’s stan-pin for Stalin. Following are excerpts from our discussion about the production and taking on such a formidable role.
What did you think when you first heard A Noise Within was doing Animal Farm?
I thought unfortunately the story will always be timely. In a capitalist society whenever there are malignant actors vying for power those around them will have to pay the price. And we can very much relate to that. It’s familiar and upsetting and terrifying.
We know that the genesis for the original story was Stalin. But Orwell said in in a British radio program that this can apply to every situation where there’s a power structure that exists that creates dictators like Hitler, Mao Tse-tung and Benito Mussolini.
What’s your approach to playing an oppressive tyrant?
I have a fondness for playing villains and Julia (director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott) cast me as Napoleon. And basically, it’s kind of hard. I try to approach the character from a place of empathy and ascribe a benevolent intent to keep the villain from becoming cartoonish.
Napoleon doesn’t think he’s torturing the other animals. In his mind he thinks furthering his own selfish goals is in service of the greater good and creating a new world order.
And the more horrible things he does, the more he has to rationalize, and he becomes thoroughly corrupt in his insatiable quest for absolute power.
We’ve all seen situations that start with the best of intentions, and there is camaraderie and everyone’s working for a paradise. But the reality is that egos and ambition get in the way. And there are commodities involved like milk and eggs in this case. So, there is a great tendency for someone to become a cruel despot to stay in power.
What kind of research did you do for the part?
I read a lot about Stalin and also The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics (2011 by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith). It discusses the rules of acquiring power and how politicians gain and retain power. It references characters like Henry VIII, Machiavelli and Robespierre and how they were able to manipulate people to great effect in their times. You also learn about their transgressions and their downfalls.
I also watched a lot of pig videos and researched how intelligent and social they are and how they assert their dominance. And also what it means to be a prey animal.
Does turning the play into a musical–music by Richard Peaslee, lyrics by poet Adrian Mitchell–make the story more accessible?
I think the incorporation of music makes it easier for audiences to bypass intellectual sensibilities and gives it more immediacy than just a straight play. Music director Rod Bagheri has been with us through rehearsals, and rather than a plain piano accompaniment, he’s put together a group of musicians that will be on stage the whole show. Julia and I agree the musical reference is Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (The Three Penny Opera, Mahagonny). There’s an undertone of violence and irony that’s felt throughout the piece.
This is my first musical with the company, and I have an unconventional singing voice, but I see this more as a play with music. Napoleon’s big song Runt of The Litter is schmaltzy and music hall-ish with a touch of lounge singer. It gets increasingly savage as he expresses his megalomania.
Geoff Elliott and Bert Emmett in Animal Farm. Photo by Craig Schwartz
In Animal Farm, actors have to become pigs, horses, a donkey, puppies, pigeons, a goat, sheep, a raven, chickens and a cat. How do you achieve that?
I think this production portrays the animals effectively. There are physical clues in the costuming with snouts for the pigs, manes for the horses, headgear with horns and even masks. Julia has encouraged us to spend time learning about the animals we’re playing and there was even talk of visiting a farm with rescue animals. To get comfortable inhabiting animals we warm up as our animal at the top of each rehearsal and see what gestures or idiosyncrasies we can incorporate into our speech and performance.
Some productions have the animals using canes or crutches so they can be on all fours, since after the rebellion, one of the animals’ credos is “four legs good, two legs bad.”
I think this is a more sophisticated approach. While some of the horses have canes to achieve their four legs, we’re not going for theatrical tropes. Even though we’re all playing different species, we’re still recognizably human.
In the beginning of the play, it’s easy to feel great sympathy for the animals and the sacrifices they make, i.e., food, labor and more. How has that effected the cast?
A number of them have gone vegetarian or vegan.
A big plot point in the show, is the animals coming together to build a windmill.
Whenever I’m in a Julia show I have no idea how things are going to happen. Then she comes onstage with plans and wooden boxes and pallets and pieces of wood and found items – and we have a windmill. This show also has eggs raining from the sky and cows being milked on stage.
I was in Metamorphoses in May and where most of the action took place in a pool on stage. I’d never done a play in a pool before. It seems like each show gets more and more ambitious, technically.
Hall’s adaptation opens with a young boy taking the book Animal Farm – A Fairy Story by George Orwell off the shelf his bedroom bookcase. His narration becomes the framing device to the unfolding action on stage.
We’re taking turns voicing the narration. It makes the story a lot more personal and more in the style of Brecht and Weill. Characters talking about themselves adds another layer and lends to the theatricality.
Animal Farm is required reading for most of us in high school or college and you’re doing 10 student matinees. Why is that important?
Through the education program, we’ll reach thousands of students and I think this play, that’s also really fun and savagely funny, will drive home the idea of the corruption that can result in vying for power for power’s sake.
I think it’s important that young people recognize what authoritarianism looks like and what it can do to a community.
The ending is sobering and can leave audiences feeling hopeless, what do you want audiences to take away?
I hope that people feel and hear a call to action. It’s sort of unavoidable that some democracies are dismantled. There’s so much sadness by seeing this world situation and it’s easy to feel defeated.
But I hope through this allegory people can see how a situation like Animal Farm can come to be and recognize it for what it is and avoid the fate of these poor little farm animals.
I hope people are entertained, but I’d also like them to ask, “What can I do in this moment now?”
It’s heavy, but it’s not an oppressive experience. It will definitely be a gut punch to some.
A Noise Within is at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Performances through Oct. 2 are at 8 p.m., Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m., Sundays. There are also symposiums with scholars at 6:45 p.m. (included in ticket price) on Fridays in September. Tickets start at $25, $18 for students. For more information, call 626-353-3100 or visit www.anoisewithin.org.
