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Animal Farm
A group of cowed beasts take over the farm
from its tyrannical owner and establish
independent rule…the ideal prep school play!
MWIJ’s production, taut and visually striking, featured impressive
ensemble work from the various categories of animals, who were
onstage for most of the time. The producer had also adapted the
script, with confident Clyde Lartey providing linking narration.
Hearkening to the visions of Old Major (
Eddie Burnaby-Atkins
making the most of a cameo role) and whipped into excitement by
the hot-gospelling raven, Moses (
Jackson Amies
), the animals expel
the drunken Mr Jones --- the farmer, that is (
Dylan Grafftey-Smith
)
--- and wait for the promised Utopia. But the pigs have other ideas.
Here a trio of excellent actors dominated the stage. The political
arguments between Snowball (
Freddie Newland
) and Squealer
(
Cenk Oguz
) were animated and bitter, as Freddie’s naïve idealism
was undermined by Cenk’s Machiavellian cunning. Both boys turned
in accomplished performances, with maximum use of gesture and
expression as well as faultless delivery, and Freddie’s solo song was
equally effective. Behind them was the scheming, ruthless Napoleon.
Here
Savva Grevtsev
, with a hilariously ironic over-the-top Russian
accent, came into his own as he swaggered around alternating
orders with threats, and presiding over a quite chilling show trial in
which an example was made of some convenient ‘traitors’.
Among the animals,
George Laing
touchingly conveyed the
character of Boxer, the all-too-willing faithful carthorse and ultimate
dupe of the régime. He had a well-chosen song just before being
taken to the slaughterhouse. The fickle Mollie was well portrayed
by
Arthur Virgin
, complete with ribbons, while
Sebastian Corso
as Benjamin had the right note of cynical world-weariness.
Nick
Crawford
showed Clover to be quite complex: baffled by the pigs’
manipulation but eventually, desperate to avoid confronting the
truth, reduced to a robotic repetition of faith in Comrade Napoleon.
As the pigs walk upright and assume military uniform, they are ready
to go into partnership with neighbouring Farmer Pilkington (a jovial
Countdown
to Christmas
The First Year Christmas Play
The village hall was the focus of community
life in the small rural village in North
Yorkshire in which I grew up.
Watching this Christmas musical extravaganza, brilliantly directed
by MLS, took me right back to my childhood. Many of the clubs
and societies portrayed were very reminiscent of the day-to-day
happenings in the hall, and of the many characters to be found therein.
Held together by vicar Henry Snow and his dippy wife Benjamin
Jurdjevic, the plot weaves a tale around the mysterious Fred, a
member of the village hall cleaning team who supposedly suffered
a terrible accident the previous Christmas. Using the mystery of
Fred’s fate, the cleaners have come up with a cunning plan to make
their lives easier, by ensuring that every club using the village hall
cleans and tidies up after themselves. The refrain, ‘We don’t want
to upset the cleaners, do we?’ is on everybody’s lips.
Interspersed with jazzy songs, lively dancing and some
beautiful solos from
Leonardo Lord
,
Merritt Factor
,
Obum
Onwu
, and
Jake Lee
, our glimpse of village life was the perfect
‘Countdown to Christmas’ and a triumphant culmination of the
First Year’s first term together.
DCI
“Acleverlydesignedsetand
authenticcostumes”
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6
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