The oldest English theatre group in India, the Madras Players in collaboration with the Stray Factory presented a play, Animal Farm, adapted from George Orwell’s famous novel by the same name. It was directed by Mathivanan Rajendran and performed from November 28th -30th at 7 p.m.
The set transported the audience to the countryside of England. The actors brought life to the story and neighed and clucked their way onto the stage. Although all the actors were wearing white and it was a bit hard to distinguish between the animals, they made it easier by helping us identify with each animal’s character. The actors paid justice to each of Orwell’s character, whether it was adorable Mollie, hardworking Boxer or the cunning pig, Napoleon.
As the play started, the drunken master comes on to the stage and whips the animal. The audience felt the injustice meted out to the animals and were at the brink of yelling and pushing the animals to rebellion. After the rebellion, the animals were determined to never become like humans, but, the pigs took over the farm and disgustingly changed to become more like humans.
The songs and background music complimented the story at every twist and turn. The play left the audience thinking about how much Orwell’s thoughts still holds relevance to our greedy world. Go to http://themadrasplayers.org/ to catch up with the next plays performed by the Madras Players.
Gopika is an Economics graduate on the outside, and a writer on the inside. She used to be a student reporter for YOCee which she says, gave her the kickstart to move on to writing with her university magazine – The Context, an online news website called the Bastion, and become a peer tutor at the University Writing Centre, Her post-lockdown plan currently is to do her two-year fellowship with Teach for India