Animal Farm
July 01, 2019
Press Release

National School of Drama, Bengaluru Centre is presenting a play “Animal Farm”- Original Novel by George Orwell, Playwright by Sir Peter Hall, Kannada Translation by C Basavalingaiah, Adaptation, Design and Direction by Prof. Satyabrata Rout. The play will be presented by present 5th batch students of the Centre as part of the end semester production. The play Original Novel by George Orwell, Playwright Sir Peter Hall, Kannada Translation by C Basavalingaiah, Adaptation, Design and Direction by Prof. Satyabrata Rout.

The show will be presented on the 3rd and 4th of July 2019 at Ravindra Kalakshetra, JC Road, Banglore, Time: 7:00 PM onwards. Entry free for the audience on both days and all are welcome.

About the Play:

Uncle Johns enjoys life to its fullest at the cost of his farm-house animals, who does all the physical labours and yields crops for him. But these poor animals usually remain hungry and stay terrified by Mr. Johns every time. The tragic condition of these poor animals one day forces them to start a revolt against Mr. Johns and removed him from the farmhouse. The animals now free from the clutch of man and plan to run the farm on their own. They establish equality through a slogan- ‘Animalism’, with 5 amendments. Equality and comradeship become the rule of their living style.

But with the passing time, some animals feel more privileged and superior than others. Napoleon, a pig declares himself the self-styled leader by changing the commandments that “All animals are equal but a few animals are more equal than the others.” He starts killing other comrades by tricks, who try to envision the future of the animal farm differently. With the help of nasty politics and greed for power, the pig Napoleon succeeds in ruling over other animals by spreading terror on the farm.

About the Director:

Prof. Satyabrata Rout has studied theatre at the National School of Drama, New Delhi and specialized in Design and Direction in 1983. He has worked in Madhya Pradesh Rangmandal, Bhopal, and Theatre-in-Education Company at NSD, Delhi in the initial years of his career. He has conducted number of theatre workshops in the country and abroad. He is a professor in the Theatre Art Department at the University of Hyderabad, India since 2007.

Prof. Rout has directed many plays such as Passa, Rashomon, Urubhangam, Mrigtrishna, Baji, Animal Farm, Hayavadana, Nagamandala, 30 Days in September, Pygmalion, Karna Katha, Evam Indrajit, Waiting for Godot, Matte Eklavya, Tumhara Vincent, August Ka Khwab, Adding Machine, and Shakuntala, etc. Rout’s production “Matte Eklavya” has participated in the International Theatre Festival at Bogota and Pasto and gained international appreciation.

He had done his Ph.D. on the topic- “The Influence of B.V Karanth on IndianDramaturgy; a critical study” from the Dept. of English, CCS University, Meerut, India (2008 and written books on Theatre research and practices, including “On the Crossroad of Theatre” (2012), “Animal Farm” (2016), “Scenography: An Indian Perspective” (Under publication by Niyogi Books, Delhi). 

He has been awarded Senior Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India- 2000-2002, Manohar Singh Smriti Samman by NSD- 2006, Best Director award by META (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award)-2013, Mohan Rakesh Samman by Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi for “Tumhara Vincent”- 2015, Sangeet Natak Akademi award in ‘Direction’-2016 and Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship- 2018-19.