Toronto Film School Acting Students Bring George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ to Life on Aki Studio Stage
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Toronto Film School acting students are set to step into the hooves, paws, trotters and claws of the creatures inhabiting Animal Farm when the school’s adaptation of George Orwell’s bitingly satiric novella hits the stage at Native Earth’s Aki Studio next week.
Adapted by Canadian playwright Peter Anderson and revised and directed by TFS’s Andy Massingham and Christopher Sawchyn, the 90-minute play opens in a utopian world based on equality, but quickly devolves into a dystopian nightmare where power takes precedence over all else.
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Described by Massingham and Sawchyn as both “deeply theatrical” and “very delicate,” the piece is one in which the student actors will employ movement, mask and choreography techniques to “evoke a world of animals who, while speaking in both English and their native animal speak, are as susceptible to innuendo, corruption, and brainwashing as us who are watching.”
“We have worked to find the animal/human balance which blurs the line between fantasy and reality,” Massingham and Sawchyn said in a statement, noting their awe at the commitment and energy their student actors are bringing to the play.
“We are all keenly aware that Orwell’s vision has not aged one second since it was published in 1945 and our hope is that audiences will take this play with them afterward and think about the Animal Farm we all find ourselves in.”
Animal Farm, which is being produced by special arrangement with the Playwrights Guild of Canada, will take to the stage at Native Earth Performing Arts Inc.’s Aki Studio for a three-performance run from September 16 to 18 as follows:
- Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m.
- Thursday, September 18 at 8 p.m.
Native Earth’s Aki Studio is located at 585 Dundas St. E. Tickets are free and available at the door.
The Creative Team Behind Animal Farm:
Levina Ahyia (she/her) as Henriette, a French hen
Gavril Balane (he/him) as Squalor, a pig (fraternal twin)
Ellis Barefoot (he/him) as Old Major, a boar; Frederick, a farmhand
Balazs ‘Blaze’ Bosze (he/him) as Napoleon, a pig
Jack Bulmer (he/him) as Snowball, a pig; Mr. Whymper
Jayson Chabot (he/them) as Kitty Cat; The Packer
Ambrose Eichie (he/him) as Bo, a bull
Alia Ettienne (she/her) as Mrs. Jones; Daisy, a cow
Elsa Gomez-Yaniz (she/her) as Squealer, a pig (fraternal twin)
Andrew Iddon (he/him) as Benjamin, a donkey’ Pilkington
Elanie Kifle (she/her) as Clover, a horse
Lucas King Candow (he/him) as Farmer Jones; Floozy, a sheep
Oscar Li (he/him) as Floxie, a sheep; Security Dog 1
Junwei ‘Vankhin’ Liang (he/him) as Moses, the pet raven, Security Dog 2
Oliver Lythe (he/him) as Fleecy, a sheep
Edna Maëlys (she/her) as Kazi, a pig
Breanna Mistal (she/her) as Muriel, a goat
Emma Ranee (she/her) as Mollie, a horse; Pecky, a hen
Sean Skrum (he/him) as Boxer, a horse
Andy Massingham – Director
Chris Sawchyn – Director
Samir Numan – Stage Manager
