ELEPHANT’S GRAVEYARD (The Production Exchange)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://tpetv.nutickets.com/events/stream/54969394?ticket=EPJBHDWSC4 tickets £10

Available until: Sunday 19th September 2020, 23.55

This isn’t a production which everyone is going to enjoy. There are references to cruelty to animals and although we don’t actually see anything onscreen, it is planned and described. The descriptions of what happens and the effects of it are very graphic. A lot of people would prefer not to watch it and I totally understand that. But it’s a really interesting and powerful story.

Nobody wants animals to be hurt. I hope we’re all agreed on that. The events in this production are truly horrific. But this isn’t just cruelty for the sake of cruelty. I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, but the reasons behind it are very complicated and although I completely disagree with what happens, I do have some understanding of the emotions of the characters and the reasons behind their actions.

A travelling circus visits a small town - large enough to have its own railroad, but it doesn’t have much else. The circus has many attractions, but the main attraction is the elephants, in particular the largest elephant, Mary. The people of the town are fascinated, particularly one man who wants to work with the elephants. The circus people allow it. Mary attacks him.

The townspeople are angry and upset. Perhaps nowadays, the circus would be held responsible for the elephant’s actions, but there seems to be no clear procedure in place for something like this. So what do you do?

The circus people, the townspeople and the railroad engineer tell the story of what they did. Nothing is seen on the stage except the actors, taking it in turns to tell a small part of the story.

It’s very powerful. It’s presented a bit like a documentary, but the actors do what they can to make their characters into real people who lived through the incidents and are still affected by them. The circus people come across especially well. Sam James Page shows the professionalism of the Ringmaster, with his ‘the show must go on’ attitude, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. The Ballet Girl, played by Dannie Harris, isn’t the most intelligent of the characters, but she feels things very deeply and in some ways understands better than anyone. Gareth Tempest tells the Strongman’s story and the way he is affected by the terrible events not so much by the words he uses but in the way he says them.

The townspeople are a bit less clearly differentiated, but I feel that’s an important part of the story – that they almost morph into one person with one desire. But at the same time, there is so much emotion in their performances, they don’t become faceless and soulless. In different ways, they all show their pain.

I don’t know the original play by George Brant, which Elephant’s Graveyard is adapted from, but Colin Blumenau’s production works really well. The lack of interaction between the characters makes it very well-suited to a production where the actors can’t be physically together. The black and white screen backgrounds give the scenes a good sense of place and Luke Potter’s original compositions, which he performs himself, also help us to envisage the small town and its people.

If you decide not to watch this, I don’t blame you at all. But it’s a fascinating play with a lot to think about. It’s easy to say that the solution was the wrong one – but it’s a lot less easy to say what the right one would have been.