Activist Theatre: Eshube Farm draws from Animal farm
Favour Bamijoko
When Orwell's Animal Farm was published in 1945, it was written as an acute satire of the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917; the motivations, and its aftermath, particularly the Stalin-led rule. The Russian Revolution was momentous in Russian political history and it led to the overthrow of the Russian monarchy after years of oppressive rule, in hopes for a socioeconomic reformation. The aftermath was a travesty of their motivations. Millions of Russians would die in penury and famine under a new administration (Lenin-Stalin) that grew more brutish than the former.
While traces of the ideological faults Animal Farm tackles are perceptible in Nigeria’s context – as in several climes globally – the question still remains; how closely did Eshube Farms come to reimagining Anima l Farm, a satire of 1917-1940’s Russia, as a mirror of Nigeria’s sociopolitical context? How does the audience relate to the play on a cultural, emotional and cognitive level?
Eshube Farm remained a faithful adaptation of Animal Farm in terms of the plot but not in terms of language. Also, the incorporation of sociopolitical motifs drawn from Nigeria's sociopolitical and mainstream culture properly localizes the original themes. The play addresses greed, corruption, power-brutality, all of which are rampant in Nigeria.
In Act II Scene II for instance, Snowball announces the ‘Animal Planning Committee’ (APC). This acronym calls to mind APC, Nigeria’s ruling governmental party. Other statements like “stomach infrastructure”, “bad belleism”, seek to ensure the sociopolitical relevance and setting of Eshube Farm as a criticism of Nigeria.
As a play that tackles sociopolitical problems, and yet has strong characters, it was important for the playwright to ensure the audience’s attention stayed on the social commentary. This was achieved using the Brechtian technique (part of Bertolt Brecht's concept of Epic Theatre which uses the alienation effect {Verfremdungseffekt} to prevent audience emotional immersion, instead encouraging critical thinking and social analysis of theatrical events) the play ensures the attention of the audience is focused on the social commentary and criticism.. In Eshube Farm, there is minimal emotional development of the characters helping the audience remain emotionally alienated from the characters.
Ultimately, while Eshube Farm reimagines and recreates Animal Farm in a different context and with a different language, the essence of Animal Farm is not lost. The success of adaptation theatre lies in it achieving the same goal as that of the original work. Readers should be disillusioned, sad and concerned after reading Animal Farm. They should feel the same way after watching Eshube Farm.
When Orwell's Animal Farm was published in 1945, it was written as an acute satire of the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917; the motivations, and its aftermath, particularly the Stalin-led rule. The Russian Revolution was momentous in Russian political history and it led to the overthrow of the Russian monarchy after years of oppressive rule, in hopes for a socioeconomic reformation. The aftermath was a travesty of their motivations. Millions of Russians would die in penury and famine under a new administration (Lenin-Stalin) that grew more brutish than the former.
While traces of the ideological faults Animal Farm tackles are perceptible in Nigeria’s context – as in several climes globally – the question still remains; how closely did Eshube Farms come to reimagining Anima l Farm, a satire of 1917-1940’s Russia, as a mirror of Nigeria’s sociopolitical context? How does the audience relate to the play on a cultural, emotional and cognitive level?
Eshube Farm remained a faithful adaptation of Animal Farm in terms of the plot but not in terms of language. Also, the incorporation of sociopolitical motifs drawn from Nigeria's sociopolitical and mainstream culture properly localizes the original themes. The play addresses greed, corruption, power-brutality, all of which are rampant in Nigeria.
In Act II Scene II for instance, Snowball announces the ‘Animal Planning Committee’ (APC). This acronym calls to mind APC, Nigeria’s ruling governmental party. Other statements like “stomach infrastructure”, “bad belleism”, seek to ensure the sociopolitical relevance and setting of Eshube Farm as a criticism of Nigeria.
As a play that tackles sociopolitical problems, and yet has strong characters, it was important for the playwright to ensure the audience’s attention stayed on the social commentary. This was achieved using the Brechtian technique (part of Bertolt Brecht's concept of Epic Theatre which uses the alienation effect {Verfremdungseffekt} to prevent audience emotional immersion, instead encouraging critical thinking and social analysis of theatrical events) the play ensures the attention of the audience is focused on the social commentary and criticism.. In Eshube Farm, there is minimal emotional development of the characters helping the audience remain emotionally alienated from the characters.
Ultimately, while Eshube Farm reimagines and recreates Animal Farm in a different context and with a different language, the essence of Animal Farm is not lost. The success of adaptation theatre lies in it achieving the same goal as that of the original work. Readers should be disillusioned, sad and concerned after reading Animal Farm. They should feel the same way after watching Eshube Farm.
When Orwell's Animal Farm was published in 1945, it was written as an acute satire of the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917; the motivations, and its aftermath, particularly the Stalin-led rule. The Russian Revolution was momentous in Russian political history and it led to the overthrow of the Russian monarchy after years of oppressive rule, in hopes for a socioeconomic reformation. The aftermath was a travesty of their motivations. Millions of Russians would die in penury and famine under a new administration (Lenin-Stalin) that grew more brutish than the former.
While traces of the ideological faults Animal Farm tackles are perceptible in Nigeria’s context – as in several climes globally – the question still remains; how closely did Eshube Farms come to reimagining Anima l Farm, a satire of 1917-1940’s Russia, as a mirror of Nigeria’s sociopolitical context? How does the audience relate to the play on a cultural, emotional and cognitive level?
Eshube Farm remained a faithful adaptation of Animal Farm in terms of the plot but not in terms of language. Also, the incorporation of sociopolitical motifs drawn from Nigeria's sociopolitical and mainstream culture properly localizes the original themes. The play addresses greed, corruption, power-brutality, all of which are rampant in Nigeria.
In Act II Scene II for instance, Snowball announces the ‘Animal Planning Committee’ (APC). This acronym calls to mind APC, Nigeria’s ruling governmental party. Other statements like “stomach infrastructure”, “bad belleism”, seek to ensure the sociopolitical relevance and setting of Eshube Farm as a criticism of Nigeria.
As a play that tackles sociopolitical problems, and yet has strong characters, it was important for the playwright to ensure the audience’s attention stayed on the social commentary. This was achieved using the Brechtian technique (part of Bertolt Brecht's concept of Epic Theatre which uses the alienation effect {Verfremdungseffekt} to prevent audience emotional immersion, instead encouraging critical thinking and social analysis of theatrical events) the play ensures the attention of the audience is focused on the social commentary and criticism.. In Eshube Farm, there is minimal emotional development of the characters helping the audience remain emotionally alienated from the characters.
Ultimately, while Eshube Farm reimagines and recreates Animal Farm in a different context and with a different language, the essence of Animal Farm is not lost. The success of adaptation theatre lies in it achieving the same goal as that of the original work. Readers should be disillusioned, sad and concerned after reading Animal Farm. They should feel the same way after watching Eshube Farm.