Theater performance
Production Studio Total Helsinki X Theater der Künste – ZHdK, Zürich
Premiere 27.2.2025, Toni-Areal -> Theater der Künste
Other shows 28.2.-1.3.2025
Language German
Translation English, Finnish (available)
Duration 2hrs15min
Author Lipponen – Orwell – Alighieri
Director, dramaturgy, video design Anna-Maria Lipponen
Set, light and video design Petri Tuhkanen
Sound design Antti Puumalainen
Video design Ville MJ Hyvönen
Costume design Coline Meret Lola Jud
On stage Tuomas Kiiliäinen, Aleksandra Stoliarova, Leo Gnatzy
On film Liliana Torres Esquivias, Yang Chao, Knut Lipponen-Tuhkanen
Voice over Alicia Aumüller, Oliver Losehand, Kristina Malyseva, Ondrej Graf
Copyrights: Studio Total Helsinki
It’s the year 2025. On Jones’s farm, the animals have grown tired of their master’s way of running things. One morning, an old sheep shares a prophetic dream in which the animals seize power on the farm. Soon, the dream becomes reality, and Jones is driven from his land.
Among the animals, a new ideology emerges: ANIMALISM – a system where every animal is equal. However, the pig Napoleon eagerly begins to promote the ideology, and soon others start to suspect whether the final commandment has always been: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
Director Anna-Maria Lipponen has written a new adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel, where not only the animal society but also the farmer Jones embarks on a journey akin to Dante, the protagonist of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, traveling from hell to paradise. The story also features the German TV series phenomenon TATORT.
Animal Farm is a heartbreakingly timely tale about the lust for power and the mechanisms behind the rise of totalitarianism. The production is a total work of art, combining strong theatrical storytelling, film, multilayered sound design, and a meticulously crafted visual world.
