Animal Farm

Liverpool Playhouse

Reviewed by Minna Alanko

How many animals can one woman play? Lizzie Wort does them all in Guy Masterson’s adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Wort shines in the spotlight, bringing each character to life with equal detail in this 110 minute solo performance. The lightness of her step comes from a six-year ballet background and she occupies the bare stage with unpretentious grace.

George Orwell’s classic story on power and human greed has not lost any of its angry political satire since its publishing in 1945, and the clips of Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher’s speeches embedded in the play are sharp reminders of the empty promises of today’s politicians. Animal Farm is a story of the revolution of the farm animals over their drunkard of a master, whom they chase away from his house and land. This then becomes Animal Farm, owned and run by the animals themselves for common good, although leadership is given to the pigs at an early stage. The utopian dream of equality, however, becomes twisted and thwarted in the political quarrels of the leading pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, and is finally exacted to tyranny over the other animals by the latter.

Lizzie Wort’s ability to imitate each character in an original way is a pleasure to witness on stage. Various postures, accents and gestures differentiate the animals from one another. Wort’s favourite character is Boxer the horse, the loyal worker who gives all of himself for the benefit of Animal Farm. His motto is ‘I will work harder, I must work harder’, his reward the glue factory when he finally collapses. Boxer epitomises the exploited worker, whose physical strength powers society’s machinery. The other animals are left watching in horror as the pigs, now on two legs, toast their union with man. Wort’s outstanding performance combined with Orwell’s ever-topical story make this a powerful, harrowing experience.