"Sometimes I lie awake worrying that we're trying to achieve the impossible by bringing something on this scale to London," says Helen Marriage, who masterminded the Sultan's Elephant project. "Then I think all we're doing is closing a few roads so that an elephant can trundle around, and that's not such a big deal - although a gigantic mechanical elephant does stretch the British imagination somewhat."
Fairytales are supposed to be placeless (castles or woods), timeless (once upon a time), and nameless (the youngest son or the fairest of them all). They are supposed to be folk stories filled with imaginary characters and magical events. So what happens when one comes to life?
The delightful and unexpected interactions that emerged from the elephant's path and wake from May 4-7 tell you more about London in a moment than a thousand Richard Branson commercials, Evening Standard headlines or Blairite Olympic bids. The 12m high elephant, time traveling sultan entourage, and gigantic little-girl-lost blend into the streets at a standstill. As unusual an event as this Jules Verne inspired French Royal de Luxe production appears, for those who attend it is the most natural thing in the world. The smiles on the faces of children and adults alike, the street heralds preceding his movements ("THE ELEPHANT IS COMING! THE ELEPHANT IS COMING!"), and the parades following them in a light drizzle tell a story too often muzzled by the spasms of neurotic dog-eat-dog (or is it doggie-dogg) London. After everything, it is a wonderful place to live. Just watch you don't get trampled by the big hoof of an elephant in search of love and compassion.
Click on the video below to see the final chapter in the Elephant's journey or visit the BBC's comprehensive coverage of the event, the official Sultan's Elephant site
Labels: london, theatre, video
Some events live up to the
hype.
The arrival of the
Theatre of the New Ear ("Leave Your Eyes at Home!") in London's
Royal Festival Hall was loaded with
anticipation. Two original sound plays by the writer/director
Coen Brothers (
Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, Fargo) and writer/director
Charlie Kaufman (
Being John Malkovich,
Adaptation,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The cast featured mainly former stars of their work including Meryl Streep, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hope Davis, and Peter Dinklage. Carter Burwell set the plays to music and Parabola provided the orchestra.
The tickets for the event sold out in a day as fans of the critically acclaimed and populist directors flocked this one-night-only opportunity. In the only other previous or scheduled performance, the plays were staged three times to packed houses at St Ann's Warehouse, a
converted industrial space in hipster Brooklyn.
In the program notes Carter Burwell (composer on many of the Coen Brothers films) further sets the stage:
"You're watching a movie, in a theatre at home, and starting to doze. You can't keep your eyes open, but the sound of the film still seeps through your ears, which sadly are never closed. Your mind paints the picture itself in that meaningful but not quite visual way that dreams play out. This is the experience I'd like you to have now."
All true except you couldn't keep your eyes off the stage. A performance like this one could herald the return of the sound play as a popular art form. Broadcast on Digital Radio I'm sure it would be fantastic to hear as radio drama, but it was electric in person. Sawbones featured a rapid-fire dialogue and Oh Brother Where Art Thou style score. And as one of Charlie Kaufman's characters in Hope Leaves the Theatre says: "I'd watch Philip Seymour Hoffman read the phone book."
But it was Kaufman's play that stole the evening. He is a master of the narrative within the narrative, or "the play within the play within the play within the play, all right we get it Charlie Kaufman" as a critic in the play comments. He has a wonderful talent for shifting perspective, often poking fun at himself, and this play is no exception. From the program notes: "Kaufman wrote Hope Leaves the Theatre in 1997 during his last year at Windsor Prep, where he was just embarking on his now famous struggles with issues of identity, weight gain, and pornography addiction".
Meryl Streep is an incredible actress. Watching her live on stage is an engrossing experience. She reads across a range of Kaufman's characters shifting voice constantly from a black woman to a radio man and sailor. She has a wonderful rapport with the audience, at one point climbing to sit on the edge of the stage and discuss her lament on the direspects shown by modern theatre audiences. Peter Dinklage is introduced by a Hope Davis character sitting in the seats waiting ... "Peter Dinklage ... Isn't he that dwarf? ... Oh Ya. He was in that movie Train Station." ... Once again to the program notes: "redefined leading man in The Station Agent". All of the characters have fun at each other's expense and the story has a wonderful flow, caressed by Streep's magnetic personalities, Dinklage's booming voice and charm, and Davis' tour de force as the lead female character, who when her cell phone goes off in the theatre gets told off by Meryl Streep, a claim to fame for her mom. You get the picture. I mean the sound.
Bravo to both the Coens and Kaufman for reintroducing an art form to mainstream consciousness and doing such a good job while they were at it. And the obvious enjoyment the actors got out of playing their parts on stage bodes well for creative collaborations like these in the future. It might even turn out to be a great way to stage a screenplay in the interests of getting it produced into a film. You need a band, some actors (call Meryl and she if she is available?), and a screenplay. Oh ... and a director, preferably one with a habit of writing irresistibly stimulating prose.
Some more links to reviews of the play:
Ain't it cool news
Aussie James
Being Charlie Kaufman forum topic
Chocolate and VodkaLabels: film, theatre
Just spent a hectic week in London starting
Wednesday night under the lights of Highbury watching Arsenal take on Bayern Munich in an epic Champions League encounter. It hurts me to watch Arsene Wenger's
brow furrow.
Thursday night was spent at the
Catapult Club in throbbing New Cross, a musical hotbed of south London (it seems every band comes from Peckham, Brockley, New Cross, etc these days) watching a jazz improv evening. It might be the best night out in south London these days with storming performances from a range of young and old.
Friday night was spent at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End watching David Mamet's new play
A Life in Theatre starring Captain Pickard (don't you hate type casting Patrick Stewart) and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) from Dawson's Creek. This was lightweight but enjoyable (especially if you are a woman keen to see Pacey in self-described 'tighty-whiteys') as the actors took us from backstage to the stage in a variety of segments. Probably was better suited for a smaller venue and features a melodramatic finale out-of-step with the rest of the script.
Saturday, and I mean all day Saturday, was spent in a marathon 5-and-a-half hour staging at the Royal Opera house of Wagner's
Die Walküre, the second installement of his epic Ring trilogy. You either love it or hate it (I take the former perspective) but you can't dislike the fantasticlly renovated venue and the wonedrful English habit of bringing wine and dinner into the great hall and sprawling over steps and floor during interludes (the second a full hour in length) to sip Chianti and nibble Brillo.
Sunday concluded with the annual orchestral/choral presentation of Bach's St Michael's Passion at Royal Festival Hall. Said the elderly woman in front of us after hearing we had attended Wagner the night before: "Well at least you have redeemed yourself!"
So all in all Thierry Henry's lone strike through a resolute Bayern back-4 nips Woltan's lighting of the ring of fire for most cultured moment of a week that could be any week in the most fantastic of cities. As Oscar Wilde (or was it Samuel Johnson, I am never sure) said: "If you are bored of London you are bored of life".
Here's three sample tips of upcoming events you cannot miss if you reside in one of the villages, for if you prefer as Benjamin Disraeli said: "London is a roost for every bird".
- Theatre of the New Ear - A live double bill of readings of screenplays, accompanied by music and sound effects featuring Joel and Ethan Coen's Sawbones and Charlie Kaufman's Hope Leaves the Theatre. Performers include Meryl Streep, Steve Buscemi, Hope Davies and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Royal Festival Hall, 13 May, 2005)
- Otello - A rare opportunity to see Ben Heppner & Renee Fleming together on this side of the Atlantic. (Royal Opera House, 28 June, 1,4,7,10,16 July, 2005)
- Legends of Hip-Hop - Live DJs spin, beatboxers box the beat, and lockdancers hold headspins. Experience the cultural phenomena of breakdancing first-hand with the best in the world. (Queen Elizabeth Hall, 25,26,27,28,29,30 March, 2005)
Labels: london, music, theatre
