The Elephant's Dream

On Friday 12th May I had the pleasure of attending a performance of The Elephant's Dream at The Conquest Theatre, Bromyard. An original piece written and directed by Hugh Farey.  The piece was based on true events and told the story of Miss Chapman's circus and how she and a menagerie of animals ended up settling at Tack Farm, Bromyard; following the forced closure of the circus in 1940, when it was declared that England was at war with Germany. I was told that this was the vision of Margaret Dallow, a long term member of the society who fondly recollects childhood memories of the beloved elephants of Bromyard. Together with Hugh and the rest of the cast, collaboratively, they created a rather special piece of theatre. It offered much nostalgia to those local residents who are fortunate enough to remember these rather peculiar times, whilst offering some rather facinating history to the younger generation. Although based on true events, the creative story telling was very dreamlike and as an audience we got to hear the thoughts and dreams of these beautiful animals, as one by one their stories unfolded.

The action started the minute we stepped into the auditorium, with a little pre-show from the silent but very animated clown, portrayed by Hugh Farey. The first of many hilarious appearances throughout the show, which saw this trickster swinging poles above the audiences heads and threatening to throw his pale of water at us, which in the end turned out to be silver confetti, he certainly had us all ducking for cover! Brilliant cameo which provided much needed light to the more darker undertones of the play.

The set was well imagined with colourful ribbons forming the 'big top' canopy, with white moveable poles and a vibrant barrier. It was simple but so effective and instantly transported us off to the circus. Here we were introduced to Miss Chapman (the proprietor of the circus), impeccably dressed and played brilliantly throughout by Janet Roe. With the war bringing an end to the circus, she is forced to auction off her animals but when she sees how little they are going for, she decides to put her hand in her own personal funds and buy some of them back. This is when we get out first glimpses of the animals from behind the auction fence, which were all played by humans! I have to applaud wardrobe for their creativity on this project, the costumes were fabulous and demonstrated great imagination.

Two liberty ponies dressed all in white, with high pony tails and pink leg warmers, played so elegantly by Caroline Millington and Lily Gillespie, who showed off  their nibble hoof work to prospective buyers. They were later joined in the show by two more ponies played well by Arabella Tabberer-Catt and Megan Adshead, who treated us to a nicely chreographed dancing pony routine, which went down well with the audience.

There were two bears dressed in fur coats, which were comically played by Margaret Dallow and Caroline Thomas, great characterisations of two ageing bears with mischievous tendancies! The later scene where they steal the beer from the soldiers was hilarious.

Polar bears doning Eskimo styled coats were a nice addition to the menagerie of animals, played by dynamic duo Arabella and Megan. We saw numerous penguins in dinner jackets and monkeys in bright red waistcoats and hats, played by the younger players.

One of my favourite moments in the whole play was the scene with the monkeys and their keeper, some brilliant perfromances from the young cast especially the gullible, oops i mean the brave, monkey. This scene had some fantastic jokes and one liners, which were delivered with great hilarity and punch. When the unruly monkeys discovered that there were no more bananas only leeks, chaos unfolded as they wreaked havoc on the audience. They descended downstage and into the stalls, where they proceeded to throw their leeks right at us. Naughty monkeys!

Finally we meet the three elephants Wynkum (Amy Burke), Blynkum (Jess Gilbert) and the young elephant Nod (Poppy Stubbs), dressed in matching grey tracksuits, head dresses and ankle cuffs. I have to applaud these actors on their sensitive portrayal of these magnificient beasts. They all gave very expressive performances, especially young Poppy Stubbs, what a talent!

Once Miss Chapman buys her animals back, with the help of her trusted animal trainer Valeska, played beautifully by Amanda Vincent-Perkins and well supported by Neil Eldridge as Charles, the Ringmaster, they set out to find a new home for the animals. A fun scene with Scott Rayson as the Estate Agent, helps them spellout 'Bromyard' in a unintentional card game, this results in the purchase of one Tack Farm. When the animals arrive in town, there are some very comical moments, especially the elephants stealing vegetables from the market traders. I enjoyed this scene and we had some great cameos from Graham Bull as the Butcher, Ted Taylor as the Fishmonger, Margaret Taylor as the Fish 'N' Chip seller and Janet Hugman as the Greengrocer. Janet later reappears as the Landlady whose washing (including her unmentionables) get eaten off the washing line, by the elephants! A special mention for Matilda Tabberer-Catt for her amazing stiltwalking, this was very impressive.

In Bromyard we meet Jack, a Corporal played by Conor Stobart, who gave us another strong and convincing performance. Bound by duty but completely captivated by the animals and the beautiful enigmatic Valeska. As the play unfolds the two characters are drawn to one another and begin to  fall in love, this signified a hopeful future for the couple, post-war. Great chemistry and well acted scenes from our romantic leads.

The renovation of Tack Farm was genious, every member of the cast took part in constructing the farm out of painted cardboard blocks. This was absolutely brilliant and a highlight of the show. They must have spent hours perfecting this well chereographed routine, which felt almost like a circus trick.

As we move deeper into the war, we see desperation and hardship fall on Miss Chapman and her animals. Struggling to find food and with bills mounting, things just get harder and harder. When Nod falls into a pool of water, Luigi an Italian P.o.W,  runs to the young elephants aid, this strikes up the most beautiful friendship between the pair. An outstanding performance given by Peter Goodson as Luigi, who along with Poppy gave us some of the most memorable moments of the show.

During the climax of the play when the young elephant becomes ill, we all begin to fear the worse. When Nod begins to hear the Circus music and slowly fades into the background, we know this is a sad goodbye to this much loved character. We're left with a heartbroken Luigi centre stage, in floods of tears, mourning the loss of his firend. This was such a moving moment and Peter gave us absolutely everything as an actor.

Sadly the circus does not survive and Miss Chapman is forced to walk away. We're left at the end with a very poignant moment, when a little girl hurries on and asks if she's missed the circus. Miss Chapman nods and then gifts the child with a toy animal - a little something to remember them by.

The grand finale which featured all the characters was fantastic and saw Luigi reunited with Nod, who finally gets the mango they've been dreaming off!

Throughout the piece the principals were well supported by a strong ensemble of clowns, soldiers and P.oW.s, who did well to double up their characters and provided some great moments. I particularly enjoyed the clowns becoming soldiers scene, where they wore their clown shoes, noses and carried fake weapons. A very entertaining sketch. We were also treated to recurring fanfare from trumpeter extraordinaire Colin Hales, which gave a nice circus flavour to the whole piece.

This was an extremely ambitious piece for an amateur group to undertake but it was brilliantly done and I wish to congratulate all those involved on creating such a great piece of theatre. I can't wait to see what you do next, how do you top elephants?

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