Image by Richard Davenport.

“The play reflects a lot of concern about the way that our society can be ‘dehumanising’ and can be have a very narrow, reductive view of how the world should work, not leaving room for anything human and complex.”

Explains Lisa Cagnacci, the associate director of Animals: a black dystopian comedy where humans are dispensable in an ultra-capitalist society.

The play takes its epicentre to be the plight of three women in their sixties and seventies. As the ladies are no longer an economically productive element of the society they live in, they are effectively ostracized, and drawn to desperation.

As serious as the subject matter of Animals is, the play is wickedly funny featuring crass sexual innuendos and pink balloons. Cagnacci tells me:

“I think comedy is much more effective in this context than writing a very bleak, depressing play would be .

That’s a very deliberate choice on Emma’s part and she’s very aware of wanting to make it an entertaining evening, I think she sees that in a way as the payback for the audience and the thank-you for opening their minds up to what she has to say.”

Emma Adam’s play has a lot to say. As well as providing an alternative society which implicitly critiques our own, the play looks at feminism, ageism and climate change. Interestingly, the casting of the women in Animals reflects the ages portrayed in the play. The characters of Norma (played by Marlene Sidaway), Joy (Sadie Shimmin) and Helen (Cara Chase) are all expressed through actresses their own age. It is only when seeing a play that explicitly focuses on older women that you realize what a rarity this is.

“There have been some very interesting projects addressing ageism in theatre – from the high-profile ones like the production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic with a cast full of over-60s to more community-based projects like Spare Tyre’s Company of Artists.

“But there’s still a massive amount of casual ageism – in theatre and in every part of society – and we need to combat it just as we do every other form of discrimination.  The lack of interesting theatre roles for older people, like the lack of interesting roles for women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds or disabled people, is a reflection of prejudice in the society those plays are being written in.

“As artists I think we have a duty to think carefully about the messages we’re sending out, and to be a step ahead of the world we’re reflecting when it comes to tackling prejudice.”

Animals ultimately looks at the current trends of our society and warps them into a satirical commentary of what our world would consist of in a different dimension. Women past the age of 60 are euthanized, children are rigorously tested to make sure they can compete in such a meritocracy and even sentimentality is charged. The process of outlining, describing and finally building an entire dystopian world is an arduous one. Once it’s done, how do you fit that concept onto a stage? Animals uses the vehicle of wicked satire and naughty slapstick comedy, Cagnacci explains:

“Working through the logic and structure of the dystopian world with Emma on early drafts of the script was interesting.

“We had to think through all the angles of the political and social issues she was highlighting and check that the structure of the world of the play was pushing those issues to the extreme.

“There’s a lot of extremely dark comedy there that comes from pushing the logic of the play to the fullest conclusion.”

Animals doesn’t shy away from political subject matter, and is an example of how performance can be used to express broader social issues and debate. Consequently, it is also an example of how political trends seep through and influence people on every layer of society – from those who make political decisions, to those who make art and performance.

Animals is at Theatre 503 until May 2. For more information click here.