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Friday, May 3, 2013
Show and Tell Post 3
Elephant's Graveyard
Basic Information about the play: Elephant’s
Graveyard was Written in 2008 by George
Brant. Apparently it has been produced over one hundred times just in the past
few years. I know that it has been produced at many colleges. Including LSU, Utah
Valley University and Auburn. To read the whole thing/get a copy visit this
website: http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1939/elephants-graveyard-full-length-version
Basic Plot Summary: The play is about a horrific
event that occurred on September 12, 1916 in Kingsport, Tennessee. To begin
with, there was a traveling circus. This particular circus had the largest
elephant in any circus at the time, five tons. Her name was Mary. Back then,
people really did run off to join the circus. A man named Red Eldridge did just
that. He was hired as an assistant elephant trainer. He really wanted to ride
Mary in circus’ parade. The circus decided to let him, despite the protest from
the trainer. It ended up that the day after he joined the circus, once they got
to the next town over, Red was killed. While he was riding Mary, she saw a
piece of watermelon off the course of the parade route. Red tried to stop her
from going towards it, but he hadn’t been properly trained. He repeatedly
struck her, which aggravated her. She ended up removing him with her trunk and
accidently stepping on him. He was killed. The towns people were infuriated. They
demanded that she be punished for the murder of an innocent towns person.
When the incident occurred, the town sheriff tried to shoot
Mary. Her skin was too tough. With this in mind, and anger in their hearts,
they thought of a cruel way to execute her. They said that she was like any
other murder and should be treated as such. It was decided that Mary would be
hung. They used the railroad’s crane and a thick chain to take the life away
from a scared animal.
The play follows that storyline. It shows the perspective of
various towns people and the circus members. The characters never speak to one
another, but through their lines and monologues the entire story unfolds. This
show is directed at the audience, is extremely effective and powerful and is
performed in the Brechtian style of theatre.
The Critical Take: I know that according to what
we’ve learned in script analysis we aren’t supposed to focus on the characters
and “who they are”. But I think that who the characters are plays a huge role
in the progression and creation of the show. When writing the script, George
Brant didn’t really have a list of characters in mind. We actually got to talk
with him after we performed the show and he said it took him a long time to
decide what characters to include. This definitely falls under Choice. The
characters range from a steam shovel operator to the Ring Master; Someone who
didn’t really have an effect on the situation and lived in the town, to someone
who had direct control over the fate of Mary and was in charge of the circus. I
think that Brant really wanted to capture a variety of possible perspectives. I
also think he did an outstanding job. Another dramaturgical choice, was the
decision to play it out towards the audience. None of the characters ever speak
to one another. They each are simply telling their story. This makes the
experience more personal in that the characters are giving a personal account.
It seems as if they are people you know, just telling it like it is. It’s an
extremely interesting narrative. Usually it is difficult to make a narrative
active, especially when the playwright insists that if the dialogue describes
it, it shouldn’t be acted out. But, Elephant’s Graveyard is very interesting,
engaging, provocative, and touching.
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