Review: ELEPHANT, Menier Chocolate Factory

After two highly successful runs at the Bush Theatre, Anoushka Lucas's beautifully pitched and intensely captivating solo piece now arrives at the Menier Chocolate Factory in a slightly extended form.

Focused on Lylah (played by Lucas) and her love affair with her piano, this 85 minute monologue squeezes a lot in. Starting as a seven-year-old working class mixed race girl, she is given a piano, falling in love immediately as it is winched through the window of her council flat. The piano is then the central presence and theme, its ivory keys a problematic symbol of both animal cruelty and colonialism which challenge Lylah's thoughts on her own identity.

She wins a scholarship, goes to Oxford, meets a privileged drummer called Leo. Talent seems to win out and she has promising meetings with a record label, who urge her to write lyrics that are not quite so clever, to get rid of her 'posh' accent. Her race, her gender and her class never quite fit her surroundings.

Lucas is hypnotic throughout, deftly jumping between her own narrative and examinations of social prejudices. Having mixed race heritage means she will always be different, clashing with the expectations of white middle class society without even knowing it at first. Her Lylah is a charmingly innocent child, then bolder as an adult, with a powerful connection to the audience throughout. She also conjures up other characters effortlessly, particularly her very direct, French-speaking mother.

And then there is the music. Lucas is undoubtably a prodigious talent, with a soulful and raw edge to her voice that imbues pure heart into all her songs. 

Director Jess Edwards allows Lucas a lot of physicality in the show; using the piano as a stage in itself. Lucas climbs on it, under it, around it; almost winding her own identity through its wooden structure.

Georgia Wilmot’s design sets the piano centred and slightly sunken into the circular stage where a slow revolve adds interest. Laura Howard’s paper lantern lighting and Xana’s sound design react to certain words and the songs Lucas plays, often creating a colourful dream-like atmosphere. The only moments that don't quite work come with the recorded voices of the record company executives, which jar slightly with the overall flow of the production.

Despite the initial impression that Elephant is simply another coming-of-age story, this is a multi-layered and rather unique production that cleverly urges you to think as it develops. The show is only on for a short run of six weeks. Don't miss it.

Elephant is at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 28 June