`A fairy story". " Not simply an allegory on the Russian Revolution". The first ironic description could only have come from Orwell himself; the second is Guy Masterson's own assessment and an indication of the breathtaking scope of meaning, interpretation and political context he brings to his one-man take on Orwell's novel.
Masterson has an engaging, immediate presence, which makes instant contact with the audience in an apparently uncomplicated storytelling exercise. Under Tony Boncza's meticulous direction, aided by his soundtrack, Masterson marches us up and down the familiar story of the hierarchy of animals who take over the farmyard.
Accustomed as we are to the smooth presentations and glib pronouncements of spin doctors, the bullying bluster of British Old Labour and its militant tendency comes as a shock, though it does, of course, echo the very voice that Orwell was hearing when he wrote this international yet quintessentially English fable over 50 years ago. Yet Masterson is equally merciless on successive political dispensations - Heath, Thatcher, Blair - and their legacies all come in for a verbal drubbing in this extraordinarily physical tour-de-force.
Cruelty, pathos, compassion and exploitation are all present in Masterson's magnetic two-hour show, in which a wonderful book has been transformed into an unmissable piece of theatre.
Plays tonight (to book phone 08-01232-235053) and then at Clotsworthy House, Antrim, for one night on February 17th