Animal Farm
12 – 29 Mar 2025
In the year George Orwell's political fable marks its 80th anniversary, Director Amy Leach and Designer Hayley Grindle introduce a fresh interpretation to the stage.
3 Sep 2024
In the year George Orwell’s political fable marks its 80th anniversary, Director Amy Leach and Designer Hayley Grindle are bringing a fresh interpretation of Animal Farm to the stage. Adapted by Tatty Hennessy, this chilling and thought-provoking story of treachery and rebellion provides a timely reminder of the perils of unchecked power.
A Leeds Playhouse and Stratford East co-production in association with Nottingham Playhouse, this dark, contemporary retelling of Orwell’s classic novel, first published in 1945, will open in Stratford before transferring to our Quarry Theatre from 12-29 March 2025.
Director Amy Leach and Designer Hayley Grindle, whose recent productions of Macbeth and Oliver Twist have stunned audiences with their originality, scale and creativity, are once again coming together to create an epic landscape for this landmark production.
Amy Leach, Deputy Artistic Director at Leeds Playhouse, said: “I can’t wait to explore Orwell’s timeless fable and to expand on his multi-layered text to delve deeper into themes that relate to the world we live in now, to the challenges we face when power goes unchecked, and unity is mired in division.
“In the year that we will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of this landmark allegorical story, Tatty Hennessy’s fresh interpretation will be very much of the moment. Designer Hayley Grindle and I are creating an industrial landscape for our cast to explore this chilling tale of treachery and rebellion – a recognisable, relatable world that will prompt us to question whether it’s possible for anyone to stay true to themselves and resist the allure and corruption of power.”
Set and Costume Designer Hayley Grindle said: “It’s fascinating to immerse myself in Tatty Hennessy’s adaptation of Animal Farm. Creating the world alongside Amy, we are conjuring pictures that convey circumstances and stories that so many people are experiencing today. The set and costume design aims to allow the audience to evoke their own ideas of what they see in the world around us and what happens to individuals when we are on the brink of change.”
When a group of exploited animals rebel against their human farmer-tyrant and take control of the land they live on, they hope to create a world where they can be equal, happy and free. As power shifts and a new leader emerges, they soon face the age-old question: is the grass truly greener on the other side?
All performances of Animal Farm will have creative audio description.
Tatty Hennessy is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and director. In 2019, her award-winning play A Hundred Words For Snow transferred from the Arcola Theatre to the Trafalgar Studios where it received 4 Offie nominations including Best New Play and Most Promising New Playwright.
Tatty has a passion and skill for writing for young audiences and has worked extensively with the National Youth Theatre, in 2018 writing F* Off directed by Paul Roseby, exploring the first digitally native generation (Edinburgh Fringe 2019) and later adapting Orwell’s Animal Farm which premiered in 2021.
In 2022 she adapted Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel The Sleeping Sword for the Watermill Theatre in a production that had creative access at its heart and previously she adapted The Snow Queen for Theatre N16 which later played to theatre-starved audiences at Brighton Open Air Theatre in 2020. In 2022 North Carolina’s Burning Coal Theatre commissioned her to write A Great Big Woolly Mammoth Thawing From The Ice which premiered in October 2022. Tatty was awarded a commission under the WGGB’s New Play Commission Scheme in 2022 under which she’s writing her latest play Attrition for producer Rebecca Gwyther.
For screen, Tatty completed the prestigious Channel 4 Screenwriting Course and is working on various adaptations and commissions with independent producers. Her play Something Awful, inspired by the true crime story of the Slenderman, premiered at the Vault Festival in early 2020 and Company Pictures quickly acquired the rights in a TV adaptation of the play. Tatty is also developing feature ideas alongside further exciting theatre and TV developments.
After working across the UK for 15 years as a freelance director and facilitator, Amy Leach joined Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is Deputy Artistic Director.
Amy’s directing credits at Leeds Playhouse include Lord of the Flies; Macbeth; Oliver Twist; Don’t You Know It’s Going to be Alright; Hamlet; Road; A Christmas Carol; Talking Heads; Queen of Chapeltown; Romeo & Juliet; Kes; The Night Before Christmas and Little Sure Shot. Amy has also directed work for Hull Truck Theatre, Sherman Theatre Cardiff, National Theatre Wales, National Theatre Studio, Gagglebabble, Wales Millennium Centre, Unicorn Theatre London, Library Theatre Manchester, The Egg Bath, Dukes Lancaster and Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester.
Between 2003 & 2011, Amy co-founded and ran en masse, an award-winning touring theatre company which created work for young people and their families.
Hayley Grindle trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (where she was recipient of the Paul Kimpton Prize for Innovation), Hayley has continued to design productions across the UK and abroad. She is a specialist in championing access within stage design and is an associate artist of the Sherman Cymru. Hayley was named as a stage sensation to watch out for in 2023 by the guardian.
Work in theatre includes: Romeo and Julie, The Boy with Two Hearts (also Wales Millennium Centre) and As You Like It (also Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch) for the National Theatre; Iphigenia in Splott at the Lyric Hammersmith, Sherman, Edinburgh, the National Theatre and 59E59 New York;Tales of the Brothers Grimm, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland at the Sherman; Blood Harmony for Thick Skin; Macbeth, Hamlet, Road and Oliver Twist (also for Ramps on the Moon/UK tour) at Leeds Playhouse; Gin Craze at the Royal & Derngate for China Plate and ETT; A Christmas Carol and A Taste of Honey (also Derby Theatre) for Hull Truck; Double Vision at Wales Millennium Centre; Romeo and Juliet at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Wonderman for Gagglebabble, National Theatre of Wales and Wales Millennium Centre; Made in Dagenham for the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and New Wolsey, Ipswich; The Tale of Mr Tumble for Manchester International Festival; Around The World In Eighty Days, The Nutcracker, Animal Farm and Little Sure Shot (also West Yorkshire Playhouse and on tour) at Theatre Royal Bath; The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Unicorn; All My Sons, Treasure Island at the Watermill Theatre;Arabian Nights and All the Way Home for the LibraryCooking with Elvis at Derby Theatre; Fantastic Mr Fox at Singapore Repertory Theatre; Mongrel Island at Soho Theatre; Unbelievable in the West End.
12 – 29 Mar 2025
In the year George Orwell's political fable marks its 80th anniversary, Director Amy Leach and Designer Hayley Grindle introduce a fresh interpretation to the stage.
MAJOR FUNDERS
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