A circus longing to be famous meets a tiny town in Tennessee that wants something to break the monotony – in the end both get what they wish for with deadly results. The true tale of the only known lynching of an elephant, the award-winning Elephant’s Graveyard will be available to stream from Thursday 17th September.
Set in September of 1914, the play combines historical fact and legend. Economic value, vengeance and public image tear up a community who were just looking for a show. Elephant’s Graveyard explores the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge. This timely, mesmerising tragedy resonates as it interrogates the repercussions that follow when the mob get what they demand.
Director Colin Blumenau comments, We shouldn’t be feeling too sorry for ourselves or that COVID and the world are against us. We can still make excellent work, just in a different way. I spy a gap that sits between the full live experience and that offered by Netflix. I am very excited about the possibilities that exploring this new medium offers and am thrilled to be working with such brilliantly talented people to realise this play in this way.
Elephant’s Graveyard is a play that resonates through the decades since the actual events with which it deals. Every generation faces its challenges of how the human tribe coexists one with another. This play is about how we take that challenge on. More than that, it’s a great story with all the elements. It’s sad, it’s funny, it’s moving and it’s horrifying in equal measure.
The Production Exchange have filmed a version of the play made specifically for our COVID world. All actors in it are supported by the charity that is The Production Exchange. The show stars Shaun Blaney (In the Name of the Son, Lyric Theatre Belfast), Esmee Cook (Dolores, Bristol Old Vic), Dannie Harris (Away in a Danger, Lichfield Garrick), Philippa Hogg (Peter Pan, National Theatre) and Nickcolia King-N’da (The Provoked Wife, RSC). Alongside them will appear Harriet Leitch (Phantom Thread, Annapurna Pictures), Patrick Marlowe (Corpse!, Frinton Summer Theatre), Caroline Moroney (Persuasion, Manchester Royal Exchange), Phoebe Naughton (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RIFT/Alexandra Palace) and Sam James Page (Death on the Nile, Fox UK). Completing the cast is Lucy Jane Parkinson (She Ventures and He Wins, Young Vic), Phil Sealey (Alice’s Adventures Underground, The Vaults), Kim Tatum (The Finellis, Marjan Content Productions) and Gareth Tempest (The Comedy about a Bank Robbery, West End).
