The Elephant Song ★★★ Park Theatre | Jan 18 - Feb 11, 2023


Michael is a mental health patient who is obsessed by elephants. His psychiatrist has apparently vanished, and the director of the institution, Dr Greenberg, determines to find out from Michael what he knows about this disappearance. There then ensues a game of cat and mouse in which the not-to-be-underestimated patient teases his interrogator and the audience with various stories about what might have occurred. The premise is interesting and the interaction between the two is absorbing, but some basic assumptions of the play didn't quite ring true. It seems unlikely that a psychiatrist would disappear, leaving the only clue to his whereabouts with a patient, or that he would leave apparently incriminating photos in his desk to which a colleague has a key. If the police had been notified of the disappearance why would they not be the ones following up with the principals? Still, if one overlooks such issues, the banter is engaging, and we quickly realise that the real mystery is what are the causes that have contributed to Michael's illness. What are the sources of his obsessions and what needs are being fulfilled by the power games he plays with the institution's staff? While Gwithian Evans' Michael captures the manipulative surfaces and inner vulnerability of his character, the presentation seems to fall a little flat. For us, the mercurial charm that may have engaged his psychiatrist remained hidden behind a mop of hair and his elephant plush toy. On the other hand, Jon Osbaldeston does a fine job of underplaying the somewhat arrogant and harried administrator, Dr Greenberg, while Louise Faulkner succeeds in creating a suitably ambiguous Miss Peterson. We are never quite sure whether to trust her reading of the patient and the situation, or whether she has ulterior motives. With The Elephant Song, Nicolas Billon has created an intriguing small puzzle of a play that should keep audiences guessing from beginning to end.

Rated: ★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Giacomo Giannelli.

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: 13 Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP, UK

Most Popular

Your Lie In April – The Musical in Concert ★★★★★ Theatre Royal Drury Lane | April 8 & 9, 2024

Image
Based on the popular Manga of Naoshi Arakawa, Your Lie In April – The Musical in Concert tells the story of a young, prize-winning pianist who has lost his ability to hear the piano after his mother's death. The passing of his perfectionist parent has led Kōsei, played by Zheng Xi Yong, to abandon his vocation and to sink into despair. Although supported by his friends, Ryōta and Tsubaki, it is not until the enthusiastic and free-spirited violinist, Kaori, comes along that he begins to rediscover his aptitude for music. This is a modest little love story that is unabashedly sentimental, but it has a magic that will melt even the hardest heart. Frank Wildhorn has written a lovely score and songs like "Just Like A Movie" and "One Hundred Thousand Million Stars" are instantly relatable. The in-concert version of the show exposed a few wrinkles that still need to be ironed out, but the simplicity of this presentation nicely complemented the unpretentious nature of
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

Player Kings ★★★★★ Noël Coward Theatre | Apr 1 - Jun 22, 2024

Image
Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I and Part II deal with young Prince Hal and the rather libertine lifestyle in which he indulges before he assumes the throne as Henry V. To the despair of his father, Hal has fallen in with a gang of wastrels centred around the notorious Sir John Falstaff. The narrative arc of Shakespeare's story then becomes about Hal's choices as he is torn between two worlds: the enticements of hedonism and self-indulgence, and his father's call to duty and honour. However, in Robert Icke's adaptation of the two plays, the central character actually becomes Falstaff, and Hal's dilemma and decisions seem more like simply a backdrop for the comic hijinks of one of Shakespeare's most enduring and endearing creations. As Falstaff, Sir Ian McKellen puts in an unforgettable performance. He lights up the stage whenever he appears as the drunken prevaricator whose cunning and cowardice are somehow completely beguiling. Indeed, on the occasions when
Full Details »

Naked Boys Singing, The Garden Theatre at The Eagle - ★★★★ - Until October 25, 2020

Image
There is still a certain taboo around naked men on stage. Well, Naked Boys Singing firmly grasps the nettle and does exactly what it says on the tin. If the sight of naked guys singing and dancing is shocking for you, this musical revue should probably be avoided, but you'd be missing a lot of good clean fun. There is plenty of talent on display and the six guys perform splendidly; perhaps, one or two of the voices would be helped by microphones but the lack of costumes would make that difficult. So sing up boys! We're not watching 'great art' here, but several of the numbers stand out including "The Entertainer", "Robert Mitchum" and especially "Perky Little Porn Star." One hilarious song reminds a lonely man that the solution to his problem is in his own hands. There is also a beautifully sung chorale using the multifarious names for the male member! It would be invidious to single out individual cast members as all have plenty of opport
Full Details »

Life with Oscar ★★★ Arcola Theatre | April 2 - 20, 2024

Image
Life with Oscar is less a play than it is a personal and professional exorcism. The show is an exposé of writer/actor Nick Cohen's origins, ambitions and encounter with the hollowness that is Hollywood. The piece chronicles three generations of Cohen's family and his experience trying to get a film made. As the child of immigrants who have left their roots to pursue success in a new world, the little golden statuette of Oscar comes to represent for Cohen the ultimate symbol of achievement, not simply in a film career but in life itself. In his narrative, Cohen plays an amazing 29 characters, and he manages to bring them all to life. From the bombastic father to the self-effacing mother, and from the sleazy producer to his drug-addled daughter, all the personalities emerge as recognisable individuals. However, while the performance is dazzling, none of the characters are really developed. They remain simply nicely sketched types. The story itself is familiar territory: a tormen
Full Details »

The Last Caravaggio ★★★★ The National Gallery | Apr 18 - Jul 21, 2024 (Free Entry)

Image
Caravaggio's innovative art and immoderate life remains a source of enduring fascination. Indeed, it is no accident that they are presented as the inspiration for the protagonist of the new Netflix show, Ripley . Caravaggio's realistic portrayal of saints and sinners and his frequent undertones of sensuality and violence tease his audience just as his extraordinarily tempestuous life intrigues them. This latest bijou exhibition focuses on the master's last known work, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610) which was only definitively attributed to him in 1980. That painting which is on loan to The National Gallery is displayed in the context of the collection's own Caravaggio, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist (1609-1610). Both pieces focus on particularly grisly acts and the emotional responses to them of the principals and onlookers. In the former it is notable that Caravaggio has painted himself into the story. It becomes tantalising to try to read his exp
Full Details »

Power of Sail – A Moral Thriller ★★★★ Menier Chocolate Factory | Mar 20 - May 12, 2024

Image
The bon mot that academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small has various attributions, and its history of apparently being "borrowed" is not without some irony. Set in the context of a debate about free speech, Paul Grellong has written a piece that is less a moral thriller and more of a satire. It is really about the pettiness and lack of principle involved in navigating one's way through the choppy seas of academia. The play doesn't really do much to advance the debate about finding the line between hate speech and free speech, but it is a clinical dissection of the mendacity and petty ambition that infects the environment of those who are supposedly charged with exploring and refining that important distinction. Apparently under the rubric of free speech, Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Julian Ovenden) has invited a well-known white supremacist to participate in a panel at the university. The students are outraged and the dean is
Full Details »

Priscilla The Party! ★★★★ HERE at Outernet | Until September 29, 2024

Image
Priscilla is back! If you've seen the film and enjoyed the musical, now you can experience the party. The story is unchanged. Three Australian drag queens set out to do a show in Alice Springs. On their odyssey through the outback, there's some unsurprising prejudice, some unanticipated openness, unexpected secrets and an unforeseen love story. In this version the tale is narrated by the raucous and ribald Gaye Cliché (Trevor Ashley) who proves to be a tour guide par excellence. But this evening isn't really about story-telling. The aim is to immerse the audience in the wonderfully over-the-top world of our three sojourners, and the show succeeds with flying colours. It has an irresistible sing-along, sway-along score including classics like "It's Raining Men," "Go West," and "Born This Way." Set and scenery designers Brian Thomson and Justin Nardella have imaginatively used the space and video designs to create a wonderfully effervescent d
Full Details »

Opening Night ★★ Gielgud Theatre | Until July 27, 2024

Image
This is a play, based on a film, that is about the making of a play that is being filmed for a documentary and which suggests the audience's reality is also a construction. It is all very meta, but unfortunately, it is not very interesting. Opening Night , based on John Cassavetes' film of the same name, looks at the struggles of leading actress, Myrtle Gordon. The diva is horrified by the fact that she is aging, and she strives to reconnect with her past artistic inspiration which she identifies with her youth. When she sees a girl, who is a super fan, killed outside the theatre, Myrtle attempts to channel the adolescent's spirit in order to play a character for whom the star feels no affinity in a play for which she is only reluctantly rehearsing. No doubt fuelling Myrtle's aesthetic and existential despair is the fact that she drinks to excess. It is all quite sad, yet perhaps intentionally, not very engaging. All the layers of artifice and the one dimensional natur
Full Details »

The Comeuppance ★★★★★ Almeida Theatre | Apr 6 - May 18, 2024

Image
Faced with the twin threats of plague and war, the Danse Macabre was a common artistic subject in the late Middle Ages. In The Comeuppance Branden Jacobs-Jenkins revisits this concept in our own time of Covid and conflict. As they approach their twenty-year high school reunion, five friends are faced with the passage of time and its inevitable consequence. Death becomes a character haunting them at the feast of life and neither the doctor nor the artist can stay the inevitable result of time's pressing on. There's a lot to unpack in Jacobs-Jenkins' work, but first and foremost it resonates as a story of friends who are reliving their misadventures and memories. The existential question is nicely wrapped in humour and humanity, and we actually come to care about the members of MERGE, or the multi-ethnic reject group, as they were known in high school. In a wonderfully evocative set created by Arnulfo Maldonado, the action takes place on a porch, that space between home and
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings