A reimagined new production will be back for the first time since 2022, where it opened as part of Bush Theatre's season of work in response to George Floyd's killing.
Anoushka Lucas. Photo by Sergei Sarakhanov
Anoushka Lucas' Elephant will play a limited run at the Menier Chocolate Factory from next month.
Directed by Jess Edwards, Elephant is a part gig, part musical love story, part journey through Empire story about identity in 21st Century Britain. Originally performed in the Bush Theatre's Studio space, it became the fastest-selling show in their history before it transferred a year later to the main theatre space.
Lucas, who is currently performing at the Almeida Theatre in Rhinoceros, received the Best Writer Award at The Stage Debut Awards and was nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in response to producing this work.
Elephant centres on Lylah. Until a piano came through the sky and landed in her council flat, she hadn't been able to ask questions at school or at home. She's encouraged to be good or else she'd lose her scholarship, she's told she talks weird, and her parents are distracted. At the piano, she pours her questions into the keys, flooding the rooms with sound, and she's falling in love.
Now as an adult, she's swept up in all of the excitement of a blossoming romance and a budding music career. But something in her life still doesn't feel right. In a search for answers, she turns to her piano. Where did you come from? Why are you here? The unspoken truth of their shared history spills into the light.
The creative team also includes Designer Georgia Wilmot, Lighting Laura Howard, Sound by Xana, and Video Design by Gillian Tan.
Elephant is playing at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 22 May to 28 June 2025. It follows Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, which plays until 3 May 2025.
