THE MAGICIAN’S ELEPHANT, Royal Shakespeare Company
For the Royal Shakespeare Company, opening up the doors of their auditorium for the first time since March 2020 is a cause for celebration. This production of a new musical, The Magician’s Elephant, has been waiting in the wings for its time to shine since it was commissioned back in 2017. There is nothing more fitting than this story of a community living through extraordinary times to bring their audiences together.
This exciting new musical adaptation by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler takes a story from a beloved children’s author, Kate DiCamillo and sprinkles magic and imagination to produce a beauty of a show. Harris and Teitler have collaborated with design by Colin Richmond to really thrust us into the world of Peter Duchene. Peter lives in Baltese. Baltese is a town where nothing extraordinary ever happens. The community is recovering from a recent war, it’s an isolated place with little hope.
The town is full to the brim with different characters who are all going through their separate struggles of despair. At the centre is young Peter Duchene, an orphan who has lost both of his parents and is now driven by his determination to find his sister. Peter visits a mysterious fortune teller who tells Peter to “follow the elephant” to pursue his desires.
An arrival of an elephant, conjured accidentally by a magician sets off a chain reaction of events that not only help Peter in pursuit of finding his sister but also the entire town of Baltese. The entire cast of this production are stellar, each have built their characters with great execution. Jack Wolfe really leads the way as Peter, he is outstanding at not only capturing the journey of his character but his voice has fantastic beauty and control behind it. He was captivating throughout.
Of course in this production, it’s about the elephant. The almost life-sized puppet really dazzles the audiences and captures the beauty of what can be done on stage. You definitely look past the team of puppeteers (Zoe Halliday, Wela Mbusi and Suzanne Nixon) who transfix you with how they characterise every movement that elephant takes on the stage.
The musical score is well developed and definitely does the job of storytelling for this new production. Those unaware of the story will be easily swept along for the journey. The only downside is that 35 musical numbers feels a little too many within the story, leaving very little for the context to help develop it further. It is great how different ones integrate into the story, particularly ‘The Elephant Stomp’ but it definitely needs the use of tap shoes to make the choreography stand out even more.
It is a lengthy musical at 2 hours and 40 minutes, and is completely different from other musicals seen at The Royal Shakespeare Company. The darker themes are dealt with brilliantly and there are definite emotional, uplifting moments in this show that are so lovely to experience. It is a well styled production and will intrigue new audiences with innovative ways to bring a children’s book to life!
**** Four Stars
Reviewed by: Emmie Newitt
The Magician's Elephant plays at The Royal Shakespeare Company with booking until January 1st, 2022. Tickets are available from here
