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Swiniopolis presents a view of authority that is truly bittersweet
By Ben Tait
Posted: Aug 11, 2006
The National Theatre’s “Watch this Space” programme of outdoor theatre offers a varied mix of theatre
and visual spectacles on South Bank. The Polish production Swiniopolis offers a slice of the bizarre,
with a thumping political sermon on the dangers of socialisation and fear.
Having been brought up with Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four I am, I think somewhat wary of
any satire containing snouted civil servants dressed in grey suits. There are perhaps subtler
messages to be had than a grim fable of misrule so fashionable in today’s culture. Spoilt by the
freedoms envied in other parts of the globe, perhaps I am guilty of almost passing some of the
starkest warnings of power and thought control off as hyperbolic propaganda in itself.
It was thus with some trepidation that I attended the play described in the blurb as a “tragic-comic
story of rebels with a noble cause, whose dreams of freedom are inevitably crushed by their corrupt
elders”. As the plaza outside the National Theatre filled with spectators and the little army of stage
hands clad in fluorescent orange, I settled down and waited for my initial scepticism to be displaced.
A school bell broke out on the PA system as we got our first glimpse of the pigs.
The big pigs paraded on stilts whilst younger, impressionable piglets scurried about in school
uniforms, satchels trailing along the floor. The depiction is playful and the mischief palpable. As time
passes, however, all is not as it seems for the innocent citizens of a negligent state. As big pigs turn
on their runty minions, flags burn and the long arm of the police pervades all corners.
Dynamic and animated, the 45-minute snippet kept the audience eagerly following the action as the
maligned subjects meet their doom (a butcher’s knife, wielded just offstage). The lack of dialogue
was compensated for by acting that efficiently transmitted the message of terror in the face of
megalomania.
Indeed, the audience was spared the subtler hues of social commentary and treated instead to a full-
scale sermon on the horrors of totalitarianism and social manipulation. Yet what was pleasing was
that the tensions and climaxes were incorporated into a seamless episode. The cast of Swiniopolis
pull off a convincing performance of what so easily could have been a clumsy and tired pastiche.
It is perhaps fitting that the production Swiniopolis should come from Poland, a new outpost of Europe
with its own tale to tell. No detail was spared in the execution of a vision of power corrupting and
equality being wittily qualified.
Yet as Orwellian dystopias go, Swiniopolis is refreshingly neutral in parts. It avoids patronising its
audience by presenting a view of authority that is truly bittersweet. The play's focus on education
contains a critique of the subliminal control played by the Government, a threat that should always be
taken seriously.
Once the cast (unmasked, beaming) had received their applause, those orange stagehands returned,
this time collecting the charred litter strewn about the square. The evening bathed us in gentle light and
the Millennium Eye turned against its Westminster backdrop. Chatting and laughing the audience
disbanded, perhaps relieved that it might be a while yet before we come into contact with the tottering
piggies in the flesh.
### ### ###
Ben Tait is a Global Affairs Intern, The Atlantic Affairs.
By Ben Tait
Posted: Aug 11, 2006
The National Theatre’s “Watch this Space” programme of outdoor theatre offers a varied mix of theatre
and visual spectacles on South Bank. The Polish production Swiniopolis offers a slice of the bizarre,
with a thumping political sermon on the dangers of socialisation and fear.
Having been brought up with Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four I am, I think somewhat wary of
any satire containing snouted civil servants dressed in grey suits. There are perhaps subtler
messages to be had than a grim fable of misrule so fashionable in today’s culture. Spoilt by the
freedoms envied in other parts of the globe, perhaps I am guilty of almost passing some of the
starkest warnings of power and thought control off as hyperbolic propaganda in itself.
It was thus with some trepidation that I attended the play described in the blurb as a “tragic-comic
story of rebels with a noble cause, whose dreams of freedom are inevitably crushed by their corrupt
elders”. As the plaza outside the National Theatre filled with spectators and the little army of stage
hands clad in fluorescent orange, I settled down and waited for my initial scepticism to be displaced.
A school bell broke out on the PA system as we got our first glimpse of the pigs.
The big pigs paraded on stilts whilst younger, impressionable piglets scurried about in school
uniforms, satchels trailing along the floor. The depiction is playful and the mischief palpable. As time
passes, however, all is not as it seems for the innocent citizens of a negligent state. As big pigs turn
on their runty minions, flags burn and the long arm of the police pervades all corners.
Dynamic and animated, the 45-minute snippet kept the audience eagerly following the action as the
maligned subjects meet their doom (a butcher’s knife, wielded just offstage). The lack of dialogue
was compensated for by acting that efficiently transmitted the message of terror in the face of
megalomania.
Indeed, the audience was spared the subtler hues of social commentary and treated instead to a full-
scale sermon on the horrors of totalitarianism and social manipulation. Yet what was pleasing was
that the tensions and climaxes were incorporated into a seamless episode. The cast of Swiniopolis
pull off a convincing performance of what so easily could have been a clumsy and tired pastiche.
It is perhaps fitting that the production Swiniopolis should come from Poland, a new outpost of Europe
with its own tale to tell. No detail was spared in the execution of a vision of power corrupting and
equality being wittily qualified.
Yet as Orwellian dystopias go, Swiniopolis is refreshingly neutral in parts. It avoids patronising its
audience by presenting a view of authority that is truly bittersweet. The play's focus on education
contains a critique of the subliminal control played by the Government, a threat that should always be
taken seriously.
Once the cast (unmasked, beaming) had received their applause, those orange stagehands returned,
this time collecting the charred litter strewn about the square. The evening bathed us in gentle light and
the Millennium Eye turned against its Westminster backdrop. Chatting and laughing the audience
disbanded, perhaps relieved that it might be a while yet before we come into contact with the tottering
piggies in the flesh.
### ### ###
Ben Tait is a Global Affairs Intern, The Atlantic Affairs.
| (c) 2006 New Criterion Foundation, London |
| Security. Ideologies. Multiculturalism. |