About the work
“Animal Farm” (subtitled “A Fairy Story”) is a satirical fable by the British writer George Orwell, first published by Secker & Warburg in London in 1945. It has since been adapted many times for stage, screen and music, including a production directed by Anna-Elisabeth Frick at Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, scheduled for March 2026.
Plot
The animals of an English farm drive out their human owner and take over the running of the farm themselves, based on the principle that all animals are equal. Under the leadership of the pigs, however, the farm gradually turns into a new tyranny resembling the one it replaced, betraying the original ideals of the revolution.
Cultural significance
The novella is read as an allegory of the Soviet Union from the October Revolution to Stalinist dictatorship and was banned in East Germany. It has been adapted on screen several times, including an animated film in 1954, and was set as an independent opera by Alexander Raskatov in 2023; “Animal Farm” remains one of the most influential political fables of the twentieth century.