Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's Latest Play ELEPHANT Tells The Story Of A Family Built On Untruths

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's latest play, Elephant, receives its world première at Birmingham Repertory Theatre next month. Directed by Lucy Morrison, Elephant tells the story of a family built on untruths, a family whose lives are at odds with their belief system and asks the question whether it is possible to truly forgive and forget.

This is family. Real flesh and blood, not out of a catalogue or an Oxo advert.

Vira hasn't seen her sister Deesh for years. Deesh's kids, Amy and Bill, want to know why but nobody's telling them anything.

When Deesh invites her sister to Amy's flashy party, Vira reckons it's time to come home and move on. Time to stop watching the telly, get out her council flat, stick on a glitzy sari and embrace her nearest and dearest.

But is it possible to forgive and forget? And when a family is built on lies, will it be destroyed by the truth?

Elephant is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's fourth play for Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Her first play Behsharam (Shameless) broke box office records at The REP and Soho Theatre in 2001. Her play Behzti (Dishonour) was sensationally closed in December 2004 after playing to packed houses at The REP, and went on to win the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize before touring France, Belgium and Italy. Her play Khandan (Family) premiered at The REP in 2014 where it enjoyed a sell-out run both in Birmingham and at the Royal Court. On screen her credits include the British feature, Everywhere and Nowhere. Gurpreet is developing various projects for film and television and also writes regularly for The Archers.

The cast for Elephant includes Sukh Ojla as Vira and Yasmin Wilde as Deesh. They are joined by Ezra Faroque Khan as Barry, Farshid Rokey as Bill and Raagni Sharma as Amy.

Lucy Morrison is Associate Director at the Royal Court and was previously Head of Artistic Programme for Clean Break and Artistic Director of the Almeida Festival. Her credits include Pests by Vivienne Franzman, The Space Between by Theresa Ikoko, Billy The Girl by Katie Hims and Little on the inside by Alice Birch.

Following its premiere at The REP, Elephant will tour to venues across the West Midlands. The production and subsequent tour are supported by the Sir Barry Jackson Trust.

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