Elephant by Anoushka Lucas - ★★★★☆
Set between 1996 and 2018, “Elephant” follows the story of a young girl named Lylah who is of mixed heritage - India, Cameroon, France and the UK. She lives in a West London council house (not a flat) with her mother, father and sister. Due to her mothers dual nationality she is able to attend a private school in London, with the children of Swiss Aristocrats. It is at this private school that she learns that there are multiple words to describe a living room’; but there isn’t a word to describe a space where your “living room is also your bedroom and an eating room.”
We are blown away by Luca’s talents as both a musician and an actress as well as the deep historical connection shared with elephants and its literal presence in the room.
In 1996, Lylah's parents buy her a piano as all of her friends have pianos. The piano has “88 keys, 52 are white, 36 are black. The white keys are called tones, and the black are called semi-tones”. Lylah’s piano is crafted from mahogany wood, grown in the Caribbean; the piano keys were made out of ivory - an elephant's tusk which can only be obtained by killing the elephant. It was at this revelation the penny dropped, sparking a connection between the piano and Lylah. Both in Europe, aware of their origins but are disconnected due to violence of colonialism or the empire if you will.
The ability to transition from French to English, embody various characters and move seamlessly through moments in time is done so effortlessly by Lucas. She takes the audience on her journey of personal growth, engaging us as she falls in love with the piano. The set and space of the Bush allowed for each piano performance to feel intimate and personal. Lucas takes up space in her movement, gliding and laying across the revolving stage, it is clear under Jess Edwards’ direction, Lucas is free and at home.
As Lylah unravels the layers of the piano’s history, she simultaneously sheds the layers placed upon her by her parents, society and the world. She learns and unlearns these expectations, coming to the realisation that she was never meant to excel from the confines of the box she has been placed in. Being mixed-race, growing up middle-class adjacent through association, surrounded predominantly by white individuals, the path to succeed initially seemed promising. However, the industry demands in marketing herself to suit a particular need forced her to confront her hidden history. Lyan realises that no matter how hard she tries, she can never fully conform because conforming means she loses parts if not all of herself if that be to her friends or her lover.
Anoushka Lucas’ 'Elephant' is a bittersweet, delicate yet fierce, as witty as it is thought provoking piece of theatre exploring how history forms identity. This play unquestionably deserved a transfer to the main stage.
Elephant is showing at the Bush Theatre for three-weeks till November 4th.
After Elephant, be sure to catch Dreaming and Drowning, an intimate and visceral deep-dive into the mind of a young Black queer man and The Shifters, a tribute to the enduring power – and fragility – of memory and love, all at the Bush Theatre.
