Like The Crucible or, for that matter, The Hunger Games, George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) is an allegorical novel - meaning it isn't about what it seems to be about. If you skipped it in high school, then you owe it to yourself to read it now. It's short, and amazing, and tells you everything you need to know about how lofty political ideals can sour into greed, oppression, and oligarchy. For understandable reasons, it was banned in the Eastern Bloc until 1989.

Here's a quick refresher: the animal workers of Manor Farm stage a glorious revolution and drive away Mr. Jones, their despised human ruler. They institute a new democratic regime, but it turns out, as the famous line goes, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." The pigs, you see, can read and write, and they use these abilities to dominate the other species and (pardon the expression) hog the fruits of their labor. Animal Farm tracks the rise to power of a ruthless porker named Napoleon, and if you know your 20th-century history, you'll have no trouble recognizing him as a stand-in for Stalin.

Director Samantha Chandler and her team of designers have risen to the stature of this classic cautionary fable.

Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Animal Farm in the Arts section at weeklyvolcano.com.

[Olympia Family Theater, Animal Farm, through April 8, 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, $9-16, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia, 360.753.8586]