Animal Farm

Animals in power - and the world will be a better place!

In the fairy tale land of Rheintal, the animals on a farm have taken over the scepter. Freed from humans, they set the tone and finally, true life begins. In times when humans are set on destroying the earth, such a social revolution, as envisioned by Orwell, would be a comforting utopia that allows us to breathe: animals take the affairs of life into their own hands, or rather paws and claws.

The society reconstitutes itself - without capital, surplus value, and money. Ranisch and Rupf step into the ring of many animal figures and exemplarily demonstrate how a new coexistence arises, in which all seemingly do well; some of course even a bit better, though not everyone knows that. The two actors counter the text with seductive songs and antics from the repertoire of agitprop as well as bittersweet Swiss songs. In doing so, the protagonists indulge in absurd choreographies, folk dances, and singing performances. These interruptions give the story its special spice and sharpen the view on the seemingly fairytale-like aspects in its current relevance.

Orwell's novel bears the deliberately downplaying subtitle A Fairy Tale. Yet fairy tales are not just beautiful. They can also be wicked: wolves eat grandmothers, stepmothers murder daughters, witches end up in the oven. And what initially appears as a harmless children's story in Orwell's writing reveals itself to be a hard-hitting, satirical indictment of totalitarian systems. Because as soon as everyone is equal, some become more equal. And the clever pigs expand their dominance into a dictatorship...