Reviewed by Genevieve McClean
Indian Ink Strikes again with an epic show (of mammoth proportions).
This Elephant Thief is epic in three different ways to be precise.
Firstly, in the poetic sense: as in a long unfolding journeyman type storyline. Which is fine by me because I like epic poems. The performance is just over two hours long, (not days and days long to perform like some ancient epic works).
It’s also epic in the sense that’s it’s great, like really good, or awesome and …Large.
The company has gone to extra-large efforts to elephantasize a stratum of themes. The story deals with things huge and things great, right down to an Irishman who suffers from elephantisis. I really don’t like spoilers so that’s my only one, (I enjoyed that character), but I am over the moon about a new Indian Ink show that grapples with big BIG themes.
Thirdly, Epic theatre is the term for an actual type of theatre. Historically in Epic theatre, techniques like mask, signage, and a transparency of the workings of the theatre on stage are used to prevent the audience from having total freefall into an emotive empathy of liking or disliking character so that they give themselves up to the world of the show without critique… That’s what Indian Ink do, but they do it so brilliantly that we actually really do love the mask characters don’t we?
Even though the mask tells us: this is obviously pretending, we love them even more! We do ‘invest’ and as you already know the show involves an elephant, I can tell you the elephant is highly lovable.
Some of us are even closer though than that. I took my nearly nine year old, and there was not a lot of distance. He was a totally committed audience member telling me “I like it already” before anyone had come on stage! He was also the only child in the audience that night.
As the programme reminds us, the subject matter of Indian Ink’s shows are often confronting alongside the humour, and by interval he was a bit shaken. Not just by the story, but also by the success of the characterization and the way they work together. “It’s a bit dark” he conjured up after I coaxed him back in to watch the second half of the show. I have to agree with him. This might be the company’s show that most widely straddles that full spectrum of the audience with its content. The realization of the work sits pleasantly with the audience drawing on its inner child, delighting at some ingenious theatre technique, but the content is intense. “What would make it better?” I asked my son. “If it was about something else” was the reply. I don’t want to censor, but I would say this will be a brilliant show for school outings, for essay writing, from the ages of abooout… 11. to 99.
I know, violence and dark themes are nothing new in children’s storytelling or even for the Indian Ink company. And to be clear, Indian Ink does not claim to be making children’s theatre. After some thought I will say I believe it’s the expansive, experimenting, story-lining, with less conclusive morality, less old fashioned tying up of all the loose ends, basically less of those satisfying outcomes of resolve, and reunification with harmony, that means the very important themes, are left with us the audience, a bit more than usual. We get to carry them home. This in itself is not foreign to the company’s work. We don’t hand them back at the end of the show, with a sense of happily ever after. This show however, perhaps because of the willingness of the writing and directing team to be led by its central theme the Elephant, and to be informed by satellite workshops bringing in new influence and talent, maybe has a less compacted resolution that you may be used to.
Leela Devi, played by Vanessa Kumar, was stand out. A robust and relatable rendition of the hearty, repeatedly endangered heroine, Leela presents on stage like a perfectly puppeteered person right down to the eyebrow, and she matched Nisha Madhan’s energy on stage. Nisha in turn shone, as her three physical characters, (and the metaphysical one). Together, in slipstream of one another, and with high energy pacing these women are brilliant to watch, and are a powerful nucleus to the play.
Julia Croft charges around the stage pulling the action into an unearthly development with great aptitude, while a great part of the show’s magic is brought to town with Jonathan Price and Patrick Carroll’s ability to depict many characters without disturbing the spell. I will leave off describing the effect of that inspired alchemy, but it’s clear that the synchronicity off-stage between these guys matches that on stage with the two leads. As hoped for the musical team integrate sound skilfully.
The onus is on the company to uphold more delight, more suspense, and even more clever theatrical motif and surprise for its at home audiences, while at the same time, growing beyond international acclaim to international expansion.
There’s too much to say. It’s a big show, and it will keep people talking until Jacob and Justin get back from LA.
In the meantime, you must see it. In fact you can’t miss it.
Indian Ink’s The Elephant Thief runs until 02 July at Q Theatre. Tickets from www.indianink.co.nz
