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Company number: 3724349
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Past programme
Showcases an eclectic range of fresh and interesting contemporary work, largely by emerging artists
Boy in Darkness
Struggling against the oppressive rituals inflicted by his birthright, the Boy escapes the Castle on his fourteenth birthday, only to find himself in the midst of unimagined horror.
Following the world premiere of The Cave and the stage premiere of Noah’s Ark, the Blue Elephant continues to bring the work of Mervyn Peake to the stage. This work-in-progress of Boy in Darkness – one of only two novellas he wrote – recounts an unnerving episode of Gormenghast hero Titus Groan's teenage years.
The Blue Elephant has a "pioneering practice of bringing Peake’s plays to the public" Peake Studies
The Applause Project
Is there a way to bring audiences and performers closer together?
Part game, part performance, The Applause Project invites the audience to share the space, and get up close and personal to the action. The rules of the game are simple, and direct the audience when, and how, to clap. Presenting a series of short dances, the company seeks to draw attention to the act of applause, asking is this when we are closest to the audience?
The Applause Project is a full length dance theatre experience, exploring the nature of applause and how to bring the audience closer to the action. Come and play at Blue Elephant Theatre!
You can keep you up to date with all the goings on direct from the rehearsal room and also updates from Joon Dance Company on their blog:
Reviews
You and Me
Two elderly Spanish sisters live in a foreign land against the backdrop of a battered rug and a mountain of mysterious boxes. They share an existence of outrageous defamation, tender reminiscing and pure madness, careering between affection and annoyance. But amidst an ever-changing reality, is their behaviour just eccentricity or something more destructive?
‘You and Me’ is a touching story with sparkling dialogue and witty observations, that explores old age with humour, imagination and tenderness.
Reviews
Reviews
Supported by
Max Dorey and Marta Rocamora
The exhibition features an eclectic range of work from artists Max Dorey and Marta Rocamora.
Dorey exhibits a collection of stencils as well as pieces from Tales from the Red Bar , an on-going short story and illustration project Dorey works on with Leeds based writer Adam Z. Robinson. Sometimes the illustrations are inspired by the tales - sometimes the tale is inspired by the illustration.
Marta Rocamora’s purpose in Art and Life is to be real, to truly connect with what is inside, around and beyond her, to move and be moved to positive action, to share and to learn. She enjoys painting with watercolours on Arches paper: She finds magic in the satin-smooth surface, the flow and movement of brush and water. The random element this medium allows, combined with the capability to work with delicate, minute detail make it her ideal choice for bringing out the essence of dreams.
The private show of this work will be on Thursday 25th of April from 6pm.
No Man’s Land
The year is 1914. Air travel is exotic and dangerous. A young girl gazes endlessly at the blimps floating overhead. The observation balloons, tethered down by thick cables, fascinate her and she daydreams relentlessly of flight. But there is a war on.
As the terrifying adult world infiltrates her fantasies, the girl is propelled into bullet-strewn skies and a strange world of lost men.
Using only their bodies, a live double bass and the windswept rubbish of the city, Glass-Eye Theatre will lift your gaze skyward, to discover what is lost and what is found in flying away.
Oedipus
In the glory of a united kingdom, Oedipus stands firm, strong and triumphant; his army basking in victory. Hearing of a prophesy that could bring ruin to all he has built, the King acts to avert this but in so doing, the ruin is all his.
Sophocles’ masterpiece becomes the first of the playwright’s works to be presented through the Lazarus storytelling method of text, movement and music.
A large ensemble shall create a kingdom at the edge of collapse, a city where the very core of society will never be the same again.
Reviews
Four Star Review in Entertainment Focus
Four Star Review in Everything Theatre
Four Star Review in One Stop Arts
Four Star Review in Broadway Baby
Four Star Review in Fringe Review
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Love, passion, enchantment and illusion…
Lazarus Theatre Company returns to the Blue Elephant with their seductive, magical & ravishing take on this classic, perfect for the festive season.
As four young lovers explore a world far from the court, a tale of fairies, mistaken identity and machinations unravel in a frozen forest in the depths of winter, where nothing is quite as it seems. Through the use of text, movement and music, a large ensemble shall create a land of opulence, decadence and romance.
Reviews
The Hatpin
Driven by poverty, Amber Murray gives up her baby to a better life. Strange discoveries arouse her suspicions about her child's new family. Supported by her friend, she uncovers a horrific story that leads to one of the most shocking trials in Australian history.
Based on a true story, this dark and stirring tale is brought to the stage in the UK premiere of this Australian musical.
A beautiful and emotive journey showing the strength of the human spirit.
The Hatpin was originally produced by Neil Gooding Productions and White Box Theatre at The York Theatre, Sydney, February 2008. American premiere presented at the 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival.
Tickets for this show can be booked via the box office at the Greenwich Theatre on 020 8858 7755 or click on the link under 'Tickets'.
Tickets will come off sale at 3pm on the day of performance. After this time please contact Blue Elephant Theatre directly on 0207 701 0100
Reviews
Signs, Games and Messages
Sounding Motion is an exciting young company aiming to demonstrate the relationship between contemporary music and dance on a uniquely intimate scale. Through electronics & innovative choreography to the music of cutting-edge composers, the evening explores the subtleties of being human: the minute signs and idiosyncrasies that let us glimpse who we truly are, the games we play with each other and the hidden messages we send. Music by György Kurtág, Tigran Mansurian, Javier Alvarez and Sounding Motion's resident composer Benjamin Graves.
Reviews
Image-in Self (migration)
For Black History Month, we present Image-in Self (migration), inspired by a Polhemus assertion, which supports the idea that culture can be transcribed onto the body in a specific way that fundamentally includes identity. The body is just one of the myriad vehicles that can inscribe culture. Of the millions of ways to inscribe culture, be it music, language, or government, the body harbours the closest connection to identity. This is not to say that the body is the best vehicle to translate identity or even the most common, but it is intrinsically inseparable. Image-in Self (migration) is three pieces exploring how much information is encrypted on our bodies through everyday and seasonal migration, focusing on environmental, cultural and religious beliefs we are brought up with and ones we grow to learn.
Abby Gacenia set off on a visual quest to present others with a personal reflection on the following questions:
Does the environment shape our being and form our identity?
What do we reflect: the world’s image or God’s image?
Where do we find our purpose?
Open pre performance from 7pm and post show.
Monday to Friday by appointment
The Wordcatcher
Following Seemingly Invisible last year, Smoking Apples return to the Blue Elephant with a new piece. Using puppetry, physical theatre and live music, its characters try to fix things in place that don’t fit together and through the expert use of miscommunication, the audience will witness how the holes and gaps in this story fill a void rather than leave one.
Smoking Apples aim to ignite an adult imagination, confronting the most human situations and allowing the minds of their audiences to run free.
“Their use of puppetry, in the broadest sense, is creative and exciting" – Puppet Centre Trust
Photos by: Jax Braithwaite
Reviews
Beatrice On Fire
Beatrice on Fire is a comedic and absurd retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing told by a young woman who has been trying to find her way through depression, bereavement and post-traumatic stress disorder. Using a combination of visual and physical theatre, puppetry, storytelling and music, this piece is a completely new take on the story of Beatrice and Benedick. This work-in-progress performance aims to keep the audience on their toes with a smile on their faces.
Suitable for ages 13+
Reviews
What The Soul Can’t Hide/Harbour
For Black History Month, we present a double-bill combining Contemporary & Afro-contemporary dance, telling two unique stories which combine as a journey of personal battle, cultural differences and a celebration that creates an overall vibrant, captivating and thought-provoking performance.
Reviews
Trunkated
A showcase of excerpts and short works-in-progress of new material from London's most exciting artists across the arts. Physical theatre, dance, music, storytelling... A Blue Elephant season in one evening!
You and Me
Little Soldier Productions presents a rose tinted window into the lives of two elderly sisters who have spent their entire existence together and now face their final years cut-off and isolated from the world. Sharing fantasies, memories, anxieties and fears, we see how this couple cope with an ever‐changing reality and cling on, in very different ways, to what they know as home. Performed by two Spanish Actresses, it directly draws from their own roots, cultural identities and languages. Adapted from an absurd text, You and Me is underscored by music, movement sequences and physical comedy.
Writer: Roger Simeon
Performers: Merce Ribot and Patricia Rodriguez
Director: Bryony Shanahan
Rob Marr
South Londoner Rob Marr has headlined gigs at the Roundhouse and Ronnie Scott’s, been supported by The Noisettes’ Jamie Morrison on drums and Gorillaz’ Al Mobbs on bass & had airplay on BBC 6 Music from both Cerys Matthews & Tom Robinson. His lyrics feature kitchen-sick narratives & eccentric takes on day-to-day life in the world’s most exciting city, inspired by the writers Raymond Carver and Annie Proulx. His music is a mixture of classical piano, hip hop, blues and soul, hymns & Britpop. His aim is to play every county in England and every country in Europe before the UK devolves and the Euro collapses.
Me, Myself and I
Set to haunting music created by composer Sarah Sarhandi and atmospheric lighting by Antony Hateley, Threads Dance Company present scenes from ‘Me, Myself and I’ exploring the notion of being alone. Firstly as the solitary, lonely figure. Secondly craving solitude, whilst being hounded by thoughts and people. And lastly to be contentedly alone, even within a crowd of people. Choreographed by Elizabeth Peck, this solo reaches into the depths of loneliness examining the conflict of despair and hope it stirs within.
Concept and Collaboration: Sarah Sarhandi and Elizabeth Peck
Choreography: Elizabeth Peck
Music and Viola performance: Sarah Sarhandi
Ney: Jan Hendrickse
Lighting: Antony Hateley
Dancer: Elizabeth Peck
Rémy
Everything I Own presents one man's journey through Napoleon's wars.
Rémy is French, lives in a prison cell, and isn't quite sure how old he is. He's good at gardening and once tried to somersault off the back of a galloping horse. Best of all Rémy tells stories; stories of foolish kings and tiny emperors, bouncing bullets and shapeshifting circus girls. Anything can happen in a war, after all. Don't believe him? You will.
Created and performed by: Claire Gaydon
MIND MY STEP
How much are we able to stop an accident from happening? When do the rules that are created to protect us start to prevent us from functioning? This new piece by Energinmotion Theatre Company explores Health and Safety policies and how they could affect our private lives.
Using highly skilled movement work combined with text, the company aims to highlight an area of our world that is both dark and comic by turns.
Created by: Energinmotion Theatre Company
Boy in Darkness
The Blue Elephant continues its association with celebrated writer Mervyn Peake with a one-man adaptation of 'Boy in Darkness', one of only two novellas he wrote. Storyteller Gareth Murphy brings Peake's unique imagery and vivid language to the stage in this unnerving episode of Gormenghast hero Titus Groan's teenage years.
Written by: Mervyn Peake
Performed by: Gareth Murphy
The Fantastical Adventures of [Not] Being With You
"We are about to embark on ’Us’. From here on out, all we do, see, hear, taste, smell, and touch will be Us. Different parts of and points in Us. This will not be a direct flight."
Two men share their timeless love story via moments alternately charming, childish and churlish. Join A & B in a funny, quirky piece of physical theatre full of fantastical adventures.
Told using only playful storytelling and a suitcase of props...
"Our final destination is Final Destination Unknown. Estimated arrival time: we'll know when we get there".
Tweet Tuesday on the 26th of June: The one show when you won't have to put away your mobile! Join us for a special performance when you'll have the freedom to live-tweet your reactions to the play as it happens. This is a unique opportunity to engage with the performance and your fellow audience members.
You can keep you up to date with all the goings on direct from the rehearsal room on Justen’s blog:
The Fantastical Adventures of [Not] Being With You Blog
