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Yasmin Wilde as Deesh, Sukh Ojla as Vira and Raagni Sharma as Amy. Picture: Ellie Kurttz Elephant
Birmingham Rep Door
**** This is the world premiere of Gurpreet
Kaur Bhatti’s play Elephant. With past acclaim at the REP with
her play Khandan, Elephant presents universal moralities within
the context of Indian family culture. With direction from Lucy Morrison, Bhatti’s
explosive writing addresses the foundations of her culture head on.
There are situations that must be talked about, but because of
reputation, tradition and culture, Bhatti reveals that some issues
cannot go unnoticed, even if they want to be forgotten. The play has a mundane setting with a family set
up much like any other. We are quickly introduced to Deesh, a mother and
her husband Barry. They have two teenage children, Bill and Amy. The
play starts as they are setting up their home for a visitor to come. They are a respectable family and their close
community look up to them as an admirable unit. With the arrival of
their visitor, there is a sense of unease as they are very much aware
that their visitor will not fit up to their public appearance. We discover that Deesh and Barry’s visitor is
none other than Deesh’s younger sister, Vira. The family have not spoken
to her for many years and their children have never met her. Vira is
however intimately known within the family circle because she has never
failed to send cards and gifts throughout the years to Bill and Amy. It is clear to the audience that when she
arrives, there is an extreme awkwardness within their meeting but the
reason is not yet clear. Bhatti does great work in developing the
audience’s curiosity by not revealing why Barry and Deesh would rather
not have Vira as a visitor. This is because there is a secret and it has
been buried for years. It would be simpler for the family to forget
about past events.
The cast grasp Bhatti’s complex story with
extreme talent and great maturity. Yasmin Wilde as Deesh gives a
marvellous impression playing a classic mother desperately trying to
hold her family together, despite knowing their terrible family secrets.
Farshid Rokey as Bill and Raagni Sharma as Amy provide a great insight
to the complexity of being a modern teenager with parents who are more
obsessed about their talents, rather than their own wellbeing. Barry is played by Ezra Faroque Khan and he
portrays the typical leader of the household father. His authoritative
sentiment shows relatable traits where Bhatti assesses questions of
culture and tradition through the portrayal of his character. Vira is
played by Sukh Ojla and gives a brave account of the shunned, but brave
sister. Bhatti reveals the complex layers of knowing the
truth, but never letting it be revealed. She gives a clear message that
public appearances are ranked much higher than morality. Deesh is very
much aware of Barry’s terrible past mistakes in his advances toward Vira
in the past and she is given the chance to finally support her at the
end of the play. The play’s themes, while they are mature and
complex are extremely relatable across all cultures. Bhatti reveals the
undoubted truth to the audience in plain sight. Deesh also knows the
truth about Barry’s awful actions towards her younger sister but refuses
to face it. Because their children are expected to now see their father
in a way that they can never relate to, Bhatti holds a mirror to quite
familiar and common family secrets, in which sides are taken and the
brutal easiness of keeping silent. Camilla Clarke’s set is in traverse, which is an
interesting allusion to making sure that the family secrets and drama
must only be contained within their four walls. Overhead, square black
walls are there to frame the stage below. The blocked shapes show Deesh
and Barry’s desperate attempt at letting nothing escape. Bhatti gives a wonderful message of courage and
solidarity to survivors. Through the secrets of Vira, this play gives
hope to other people in silence. Vira still has intentions for her
family to hear her own account of the past, in spite knowing that she
will not be believed, and even shunned for it.
As well as being the nickname for Deesh, writer
Bhatti addresses the elephant in the room. Bhatti asks how far people
must go in order to be believed, but also to be forgiven. Bhatti also
shows how easy it is to blame circumstances rather than personal
actions. To 03-03-18 Elizabeth Halpin 20-02-18 |
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