A Fairy Story Animal Farm

“Must not spoil the mood, the harvest festival of gentle beginnings. Everything is fine… and if it isn’t, history will tidy it up later.” 

A Fairy Story Animal Farm reimagines Orwell’s fable as a meta-surreal, visceral epic of revolution, memory and myth-making. Guided by a Pigeon’s fractured narration, the story unravels into a darkly comic collision of hope, brutality and political reinvention. 

Familiar characters return with raw emotional immediacy as rebellion pulses through techno-ritual, working-class nostalgia and the seductive glow of collective purpose. History loops, glitches and reboots as power corrodes, truth is curated, and violence resurfaces in new forms. 

This is Animal Farm as a fever-dream of uprising, loss, and the cost of believing in a better world.  

Written and directed by Eric Gregory Award-winning poet and director Maisie Newman (Bakkhai, National Youth Theatre and choreographer for Candide, Scottish Opera) with original music by Cameron Mackintosh award-winning composer Ben Osborn. This adaptation is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting and supported by Technical Theatre Arts students.  

Director Maisie Newman
Designer Hazel Low
Lighting Hugo Dodsworth
Sound Ben Osborn