MILWAUKEE - Étude High School students in the 2017-18 Global Studies class attended Animal Farm at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, January 30th 2018.

The class read the George Orwell classic during their first trimester, so when the chance presented itself to see a different take, the class made sure to go. Animal Farm tells the story of an animal revolution on Manor Farm where the animals run out their farmer under the leadership of the farm’s pigs. As the years go on though, instead of the goal of all animals becoming equal, the animals learn from the pigs that, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” During the same time the students learned about the Russian Revolution and early communist rule following that as the novel is an allegory for that time in history.

The play the students saw is a retelling of George Orwell’s novel, only changed to have a setting of a meat processing plant. The animals also weren’t actually animals; they were people holding masks of their animal. Despite that the play closely followed the novel; many lines even directly quoted the novel.