THE ROOM IN THE ELEPHANT
"The finest self-referential bullshit you could ask for" ★★★★ - Broadway Baby
"comedy gold ... a forty-five minute shake-down of performance that leads you right up the proverbial garden path and straight into the man-shed. The Room In the Elephant keeps on giving and is full of surprises. The ending is a total hoot" - Total Theatre "The talent of the cast and crew shines through, and what you get by the end is a fantastically structured, well-crafted comedy show, about making a comedy show" - A Younger Theatre SYNOPSIS
Seemingly set in a garden shed, this provocative comedy begins with two young men struggling to come up with ideas for a show they are due to perform the following week. They decide that the show will be an exact re-creation of the creative process they are currently undertaking, and begin to record their conversation. A third, older performer arrives and states that this sounds like some “awful, self- referential bullshit,” which they will be unable to carry off given their poor acting skills - “And you’ll say that in the actual show!” they tell him. Following the logic and possibilities of this premise leads to conversations about art, ambition, evolution and masculinity. They decide that the show’s title could refer to a space made between men to discuss the ‘elephants in the room’, and begin sharing controversial stories from their lives. As the piece progresses there are shifting realisations about where and when the show is actually set, and who these men really are. Devised and performed with Joe Mulcrone & Merry Colchester from Cat and Mouse Theatre: ' www.catandmousetheatre.com COLLABORATORS JOE MULCRONE has performed on stage and in short films since the age of 9, with his first ventures into theatre at both the Merlin and Memorial Theatres in Frome, Somerset. Within film, he most notably starred in 'The Red Bike,' (dir. Andrew Steggall) which went on to win Best UK Short. Joe has also toured the UK with the 'Onatti' children's theatre company, worked with 'Secret Cinema' and is a regular performer with Copperdollar and their award winning show, 'The Back of Beyond'. He is the founder of Cat and Mouse Theatre whose notable works include 'Charlie Browns', a fully immersive 1920's Speakeasy [Boomtown Fair, Brixton East] and a talk/performance for the 'TEDx Courtauld Institute' event, 'Colouring Life' MERRY COLCHESTER has worked in a variety of performance forms: puppetry with ‘Colossal Crumbs’, interactive performance with “YouMeBumBumTrain’, ‘Secret Cinema’, ‘Copperdollar’; devised theatre with ‘Inconvenient Spoof’ & ‘Foul Play’, and has had over 20 film appearances, starring in the feature film ‘The Scandalous Four’ (2012). He is co-founder of production company Gallivant Film and co-director of Cat and Mouse Theatre, specialising in interactive, immersive performance. |