Long Live Animal Farm!

W!ld Rice seems unable to hit a wrong note these days, following its award-winning Importance Of Being Earnest of 2009. Animal Farm, based on George Orwell's classic political critique, continues this respected theatre company's stellar record.

This is a solid piece of theatre, first and foremost. High production values, a fantastic cast,  tight direction and an eloquent script come together for a memorable experience that touches the audience intellectually and emotionally.

Reprising the physical theatre elements from an earlier staging, the 2010 production of Animal Farm seems to have perfected the recipe of animal movement and sounds that the actors incorporate seamlessly throughout 

the running time. Chickens are evoked with a pointing of elbows and bobbing of heads, and turn in a flash into high-steppin' horses that trot and whinny. The seven cast members play a gamut of roles (and species), with ingenious ways of shifting from one character to another. Denise Tan, who plays a domesticated bird (Mollie), a more adventurous one (Moses) as well as a brief turn as a pigeon, captures the "birdy-ness" of all the fowl while representing each one as separate individuals: from the vain, pampered Mollie, to the Filipino-accented pigeon. Tan conjured up the essence of each creature with zest and panache. Gene Sha Rudyn also captures two heavy roles impressively while maintaining the distinctness of each. His Benjamin, an old and cynical donkey, is as memorable as his Snowball, the charismatic revolutionary pig.  

The horses, Boxer (Ghani Abdul Karim) and Clover (Yeo Yann Yann) are more sombre, tragic characters, and they are brilliantly balanced out by a hyperactive Squealor (Pam Oei), the right-hand pig to the Leader of Animal Farm, Napoleon (Lim Yu-Beng). Oei's Squealor is a hilarious villain-clown that implements the dastardly policies of Napoleon (like cutting rations and extending working hours) with a blind zealor that brings to mind the fundamentalists of today.

 
Indeed, the true allure of Animal Farm lies in its subtle, not-so-subtle, and outrightly overt references to Singapore's political system. Turning the slogan "Two Legs Bad, Four Legs Good" into a public campaign (complete with flyers) was one of the less subtle references.  But while the references to a society shifting away from agrarian production towards industrialisation and commerce seem to place Animal Farm in a particular Socialist context, the introduction of a George Bush / APEC satire at the end really hit a current chord about the state of world affairs today. That said, the production is not so narrowly focussed, and the more universal themes of power and corruption are clearly fleshed out.

The company seems to have drawn inspiration from its successful pantomimes to borrow a few audience participation tricks - which add to the colour and humour of the work.

All in all, this production is evidence that theatre old-timers are able to mature, hone skills and grasp wisdom - all of which benefit the audience and the larger arts scene.