About
In George Orwell’s political satire Animal Farm, written in 1944 and referred by some as an anti-Stalinist novel, most of the events and characters have their historical matches and prototypes. As soon as it was published, the work gained recognition and popularity; even today this parable of totalitarianism has not been worn by time or sunk into the past, but explains our lives ever more eloquently. History repeats itself because human nature and the desire for power do not change, while indifference or cowardice have the same consequences.
Animal Farm. The Twenty-First Century is a performance within a performance. The play begins with actors rehearsing Animal Farm in an unnamed theatre. When the rehearsals stop and the actors take off their masks, they do not realise they are living in a world similar to the one described in the book. As they create the new play and find themselves in opposite camps, they start sorting out their lives and argue about who is to blame for them living in the never-ending sequel of Animal Farm; who did what, but, more importantly, who failed to do something to make it happen. In the end, many questions arise: what can an actor do in the face of politics and big capital? What can anyone, who is neither a politician nor a military, do? And why should anyone, who is just trying to do their job, assume responsibility? According to Timothy Snyder, ‘the minor choices we make are themselves a kind of vote. In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much’.
‘Revisiting Orwell means trying to stay vigilant and to see if democracy is not dwindling away. And this has to be done every day, so that later we do not ask each other which moment we overlooked and lost, or maybe even willingly gave away our freedom’, the creators of the performance Animal Farm. The Twenty-First Century share their thoughts.
