Four legs badass in Revolution Farm

George Orwell is a big hitter in literature so when I heard James Kenworth was coming to Cultural Exchanges to talk about his adaptation of Animal Farm, I knew I had to attend. 

Kenworth gave an awe-inspiring on how he turned Animal Farm into Revolution Farm, a modern-day dramatic adaptation set and staged on Newham Farm in East London - and how he got permission to do it.  
In Kenworth's adaptation the animals wear hoodies and that makes them seem more dangerous since so many older people feel threatened by hoodie-wearing teens. It makes it seem "badass".

And that word "badass" is the right one since Kenworth changed Orwell's famous line "Four legs good, two legs bad," from Animal Farm, to "Four legs badass, two legs waste man." And that's just one example of how Revolution Farm uses modern slang. He also changes the names of the characters so that Napoleon, for instance, becomes Daddy Love.
 
Most of the presentation was about the creation of this adaptation and how James Kenworth didn't wanted to make it his own, but to make it modern. But to me it seemed, from this brilliant presentation, that by taking Orwell's work and turning it into a contemporary play, he also succeeded in making it very much his own.


Josh Harwood

George Orwell: English Rebel

 George Orwell: Journalist, novelist, socialist, Englishman - and rebel with a cause.

 The man born Eric Blair - who would become one of England's most enduring literary heroes - was an enigma, a complex and contradictory character, who would never do anything he didn't want to do.

 That is according to De Montfort University's Professor of Cultural hhstory, Robert Colls, in his fascinating and engaging talk about his new book, George Orwell: English Rebel.

 Professor Colls took us on a journey through Orwell's life, from his days at Eaton, to his time serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, through to his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War and beyond.

 The talk delivered a thoroughly insightful and at times humorous look into the often complicated life of George Orwell, the man who's mind-set, principles and opinions would be forever changing with his every new experience of the world.

 If you want educating on the intellectual hating intellectual, or want to know why the left-wing writer had right-wing sympathies, then look no further than Professor Colls and his fantastic new book.

S.R Chambers

 George Orwell: Journalist, novelist, socialist, Englishman - and rebel with a cause.

 The man born Eric Blair - who would become one of England's most enduring literary heroes - was an enigma, a complex and contradictory character, who would never do anything he didn't want to do.

 That is according to De Montfort University's Professor of Cultural hhstory, Robert Colls, in his fascinating and engaging talk about his new book, George Orwell: English Rebel.

 Professor Colls took us on a journey through Orwell's life, from his days at Eaton, to his time serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, through to his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War and beyond.

 The talk delivered a thoroughly insightful and at times humorous look into the often complicated life of George Orwell, the man who's mind-set, principles and opinions would be forever changing with his every new experience of the world.

 If you want educating on the intellectual hating intellectual, or want to know why the left-wing writer had right-wing sympathies, then look no further than Professor Colls and his fantastic new book.

S.R Chambers