Animal Farm to embark on new tour

Octagon Theatre Bolton, Derby Theatre, and Hull Truck Theatre’s re-telling of George Orwell’s Animal Farm will embark on a new tour.

Adapted by Ian Wooldridge and directed by Iqbal Khan (East is East), the tour will commence at the Octagon Theatre early next year, playing from 22 January to Sat 1 February 2025.

The show will then visit Rose Theatre, Kingston (4 to 8 February), Malvern Theatre (11 to 15 February), Curve Theatre, Leicester (25 February to 1 March), Queens Theatre Hornchurch (4 to 8 Mar), Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (11 to 15 March), Perth Theatre (25 to 29 March), and Liverpool Playhouse (1 to 5 April), with more dates and venues to be announced.

The piece follows the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm who overthrow their master, only to find themselves ensnared by another tyranny. It was first seen in Bolton earlier this year.

Full casting will be announced shortly. The returning creative team includes Khan (director), Ciaran Bagnall (set and lighting designer), Gerry Marsden (sound designer), Su Newell (costume designer and supervisor), Shelley Eva Haden (movement director), and Dylan Towley (composer).

Octagon Theatre’s artistic director Lotte Wakeham said today: “We are thrilled to be taking our hugely popular production of Animal Farm – brilliantly directed by Iqbal Khan – on tour, visiting venues across the UK in 2025.

“It received an incredible response from audiences in Bolton, Derby and Hull earlier this year, so we are hugely excited for even more audiences across the country to see this fresh, compelling and important piece of theatre.

“We are delighted to be opening the tour in Bolton, giving Octagon audiences the opportunity to catch it again before it begins its journey around the UK.”

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