This is a story of the relationship between humans and animals told through the journey of a young elephant called Janu…
By Suman Bhuchar
‘THE VANISHING ELEPHANT’, written by Charles Way, begins in a forest in India, when a man walks down to the stage with a small box, while the eight strong cast on stage proclaim the birth of a baby elephant.
After an idyllic childhood she is captured by hunters and taken to a small village to be trained by a mahout (Mahdav Vasantha) but a small boy Opu (Adi Chugh) falls in love with her.
Years later she is renamed Jenny by an American woman, Carole (Phillip O’Hara) who buys her to be part of the circus in America to entertain audiences looking for exotic animals.
The dramatised scenes of her being captured and being encased in a large box, travelling on a steamship are a distressing watch, as the cruelty inflicted on her by her new trainer Jarrett (Terrance Fleming). He throws away the letter the boy has written about how to look after his beloved, pachyderm, Janu. Obviously, the cruelty is staged but it feels visceral.
To think that once upon a time it was alright to have animals performing in a circus (The Wild Animals in Circuses Act, 2019 made this illegal).
The play anthropomorphises the elephant story from her perspective and the puppets created by Helen Foan and actors perform it well.
Beautiful music composed by Aoife Kavanagh and vocals by Pallavi MD and are emotionally resonant and the lighting by Simon Bond and illusion by Guy Barrett, convey the entrapment, wonder and fear of Jenny.
Meanwhile, Opu who is an orphan is adopted by a lawyer and his wife who want him to succeed in a “New India” and is forever separated from Janu.
The moral is about a friendships between humans and animals and whether animals are sentient beings who experience separation, hurt and displacement in the same way.
The colour palette is shades of dark blue and greys.
The first act is gentle and slow, while the second act is more dynamic and spans decades in the story telling.
We see the circus travelling across America and the animals performing, and more flamboyance.
The animal characters are performed by the actor manipulating the puppets. The denouement of the play occurs when the magician Harry Houdini (James Grimm) offers to make an elephant vanish. This is supposed to be based on a real life incident in 1918 when he did just that.
Is this the moment when Janu and Opu are reunited or will they continue to pine for each other?
‘The Vanishing Elephant’ is created and directed by Paul Bosco McEneaney, who is from County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
He is the founder and artistic director of Cahoots NI, the Belfast based Theatre Company that has produced the show.
‘The Vanishing Elephant’ originally premiered in New York in October 2023 and enjoyed a successful tour in US.
This is an emotionally resonant and enjoyable show.
ACV rating: **** (out of five)
All pictures courtesy of Cahoots NI
Listings
From June 18-21
The Vanishing Elephant by Charles Way, Belgrade Theatre, Belgrade Square,
Coventry, CV1 1GS
https://www.belgrade.co.uk/events/the-vanishing-elephant/
Age suitability 8 + and parents – duration 1 hour 40 (including interval)
