animal farm

atyp teacher resources – director’s perspectives

2012

We’re thrilled that you’ve been available to direct Animal Farm at atyp. Could you

tell me how this has been different to some of the other shows you’ve directed?

This show is different to other shows because firstly, it involves 18 performers! It’s the

biggest cast I have ever worked with. Secondly, it’s an adaptation from a novel and I

had never done something like that before.

It's a huge project and I feel the weight of the responsibility to communicate

something new to the audiences.

This adaptation is inspired by the stuff we found on the floor with the actors.

What do you look for when auditioning young actors?

When I audition actors I look for the people who I intuitively think would be the best

for the roles. I never have something set in my head. I allow myself to be surprised

and try to stay away from trends. I look for the people who get easily overlooked,

sometimes because of race or gender or just body weight.

What drew you to directing such an iconic novel?

I was mainly drawn to the artistic challenge of adapting a novel.

I heard of the death of Israeli Arab actor, Juliano Mer, in Gaza. He was someone I

knew. When I heard about his assassination and about the fact that when he staged

Animal Farm his theatre was burned - I thought it would be a good reminder for all of

us about the pecuniary nature of humanity.

Your process for creating this performance has been unusual. What’s the first thing

you do when there is no script? How do you then develop an entire show?

The process I am working on is called “Active Analysis”, or the method of physical

action, based on Stanislavski. It's a very interesting methodology and a very succinct

one. It allows the actors to be active in the realization of their roles via first-hand

experience. Everything is discovered on the floor and there are no superimpositions.

I worked with the chapters of the novel as if they were the scenes.

netta yaschin – director

We read and improvised each chapter and based on that, Peter Whitehead, the

dramaturg, and I discussed the text which he eventually selected. All the words in the

play are George Orwell’s.

How do you build rapport with your actors and creatives to ensure that they follow

you on the journey of devising?

This process encourages actors to take responsibility and own the work they are

doing. It's very natural and has no formula. Basically I am extremely proud of not

imitating anyone, especially in an artistic theatrical landscape that suggests all sets to

be white at the moment.

The actors are encouraged to make interesting and dynamic choices and when they

realise their work is appreciated, they reward you by following your vision.

It's a lateral, out-side of the box activity.

What has surprised you about yourself during this process?

I discovered that I have lost a lot of my childlike curiosity and it needs to be re-

invigorated. I am a bit like Benjamin the donkey; cynical. I discovered again, how

dangerous comfort zones are and how easy it is to get caught in useless habits.

What advice would you give to aspiring young directors?

My advice to aspiring young directors is to stay young! Keep an open mind and

avoid making “museum theatre”. Make the theatre that you want to see. Don't

lecture! Be dramatic, bold and use more movement. Be relentless in your passion.

classroom activity

BRAINSTORM

WATCH the following interview with Netta.

https://vimeo.com/41679352

ANSWER the following questions as a class based on the filmed

interview:

a) What are the benefits of working with a large cast?

b) The play is an adaptation of a novel. List and discuss

with your class other adaptations (plays or films) of

novels you have seen. Are these successful or not?

Why / Why not?

c) What is your understanding of “active analysis” as

Netta describes it?

d) What does Netta want her audience to take away

with them?

e) What did you take away from the performance?

f) Who is the “pig” ruling you? (It could be an inner voice

or a societal expectation).

g) What philosophical musings did you have during the

show?

h) What relevance did the play have for you?

i) Do you agree with Netta’s statement that we have a

fear of expressing our ideas and opinions in our

society? Why / Why not?

PRACTICAL

READ Chapter 1 of the novel (see Appendix). In the opening

of the novel the reader is introduced to most of the

characters.

HIGHLIGHT the character that you would be most interested

in exploring using the techniques that Netta outlines in her

interview.

Spend 15 minutes in SILENT EXPLORATION of space and your

movement within the space as the character of your choice.

For the first 5 minutes, be aware of yourself and your own

movement. For the next 5 minutes, be aware of yourself

within the space (using the contours of the room, the objects

within the room etc), for the final 5 minutes, be aware of

yourself, the space and the other actors. You may interact

with them but it needs to be done silently. Remember to be

expressing the “animal” that you have chosen and allow

your actions to come from within you.

SELECT someone to be a narrator. Drawing upon the

movement exercise you’ve just completed, perform the

following excerpt as an entire class. It’s fine if more than one

person has chosen the same character.

Animal Farm; George Orwell; Harcourt Brace & Company,1946; London, UK

Chapter I

Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but

was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from

his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his

boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the

scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.

As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a

fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day

that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the

previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had

been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones

was safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, though the

name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so

highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's

sleep in order to hear what he had to say.

At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already

ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. He

was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a

majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the

fact that his tushes had never been cut. Before long the other animals began

to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions. First

came the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher, and then the pigs, who

settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform. The hens

perched themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the

rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew

the cud. The two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, came in together, walking

very slowly and setting down their vast hairy hoofs with great care lest there

should be some small animal concealed in the straw. Clover was a stout

motherly mare approaching middle life, who had never quite got her figure

back after her fourth foal.

Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as

any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose gave him

a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate

intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character

and tremendous powers of work. After the horses came Muriel, the white

goat, and Benjamin, the donkey. Benjamin was the oldest animal on the

farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was

usually to make some cynical remark--for instance, he would say that

God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have

had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he never

laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at.

appendix

Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the two

of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond

the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking.

The two horses had just lain down when a brood of ducklings, which had lost

their mother, filed into the barn, cheeping feebly and wandering from side to

side to find some place where they would not be trodden on. Clover made a

sort of wall round them with her great foreleg, and the ducklings nestled

down inside it and promptly fell asleep. At the last moment Mollie, the foolish,

pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing daintily in,

chewing at a lump of sugar. She took a place near the front and began

flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was

plaited with. Last of all came the cat, who looked round, as usual, for the

warmest place, and finally squeezed herself in between Boxer and Clover;

there she purred contentedly throughout Major's speech without listening to a

word of what he was saying.

All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven, who slept

on a perch behind the back door. When Major saw that they had all made

themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat

and began:

"Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last

night.