The centrepiece of a Cahoots production is magic, something that’s certainly true in both senses of their Broadway-wowing play The Vanishing Elephant. This translates in their Grand Opera House performance into an actual early 1900s trick of Harry Houdini’s that we witness in which he apparently made an elephant disappear. But that comes later.
India is the starting point of the story of Janu the vanishing elephant and her human friend, and the choreography and music beautifully evoke the sub continent. The grey puppets, brilliantly fashioned to War Horse standard by choreographer Helen Foan, disappears and reappears like a Hindu incarnation. After a lyrical opening to the show, things go wrong as they inevitably must. Upo the boy who befriends the baby elephant has to accept the sale of his mate to an American circus. He agrees to escort her to her box on board ship to soften the impact of her exile. Yet his heart is clearly broken.
The age recommendation is over-eight. The fact that the narrative involves various kinds of cruelty, slavery in a way, experienced by the elephant, her mean trainer Jarret and other figures, including Arnie the tiger in the American circus, is brave. We saw Janu’s trainer threaten her with a stick, justifying it as his means via ends instruction from the female boss. Nothing is glamourised yet the spirit of friendship holds true and you could say wins the day. Everything comes full circle with Upo, the young boy who discovered the elephant and knew he wanted to explore the world of the gentle giants rather than become a lawyer. In a neat twist, he is also controlled, by adoptive parents who want to create an English gentleman from a country boy from Bengal.
Charles Way’s plot weaves in Arnie, an irascible tiger, an escape bid and the change of heart of the American circus owner. A repeated phrase about elephants as gods who used to have wings show their mythic power. When we see Janu rear up to scare off the tiger attacking her, this almost seems to be true. Could the “land of the free” to which she’s ironically introduced, live up to its name?
Among acting credits Adi Chugh (Upo) and Terrance Fleming (Jarrett) deserve applause as do the expert puppeteers Iris Schmid, Katrina Brown and David Morgan, and ensemble.
This is a show with important messages about how we treat humanity and the animal kingdom. They transmit without didacticism. The ending, when Upo, now an old man, is reunited with his old friend, having travelled from India to check on whether Houdini’s performer is his beloved Janu, is moving in the extreme. Paul McEneaney directed. It's a beautiful play and formed part of the Belfast International Arts Festival.
Jane Hardy
