The world premiere of a musical version of American author Kate DiCamillo’s much-loved book, The Magician’s Elephant looks set to be one of the highlights of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Winter 2020 season.
Due to play the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 29 October 2020 until 17 January 2021, the new adaptation of the children’s novel which was first published in 2009 will feature a book by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler. After serving as associate director to RSC’s artistic director Gregory Doran on last year’s RSC Christmas hit The Boy in the Dress, Sarah Tipple will take charge of this year’s family-friendly offering.
Commenting on their involvement in the production, writers Harris and Teitler said: “We were hugely excited by the epic world Kate DiCamillo created in The Magician’s Elephant – its fluid, unexpected leaps, larger-than-life characters and darkly comic, fairy tale quality immediately suggested a highly musical and visual approach to the story-telling. And while we’re thrilled at the prospect of creating a mesmerising theatrical experience for RSC audiences, it’s the emotional truth and compassion at the heart of the story that really resonates with us and is what makes it an urgent and hopeful one for our time.”
DiCamillo added: “The story of The Magician’s Elephant began, for me, with a vision of a magician on a stage conjuring an elephant – a real elephant – by mistake. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but that image of the two of them together on a stage haunted me. Imagine, then, how thrilled I am to have the brilliant Royal Shakespeare Company make that image that haunted me come to life on a stage.
“I wrote The Magician’s Elephant during a dark time, personally, and it seemed miraculous to me that the story could lead me through grief and to the other side of it — to love and forgiveness. I hope and believe with all of myself that this production will inspire those same feelings of love, forgiveness (and joy) in audiences.”
Marc Teitler and Nancy Harris in a workshop for the RSC’s The Magician’s Elephant. Picture: Sam Allard
Featuring Jack Wolfe (Sweeney Todd, Lyric Belfast, Pinocchio, National Theatre) in the central role of the orphan Peter, the production will be designed by Colin Richmond, with lighting by Oliver Fenwick.
Announcing a season that also includes The Wars of the Roses, an epic staging of all three parts of Henry VI and a new production of Twelfth Night, artistic director Doran said: “When I became artistic director, I wanted to stage every Shakespeare play in the canon once. We are more than two thirds of the way through that journey, which will conclude at the end of 2021.
“We began with Richard II in 2013, developing the ‘history cycle’ with the two Henry IVs and Henry V. We played all four shows as one cycle in London and New York, and took the productions to China, the first time the plays had ever been performed there. This journey now continues with The Wars of the Roses, our two-part staging of Shakespeare’s epic history cycle which he wrote as Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3… The beautifully crafted storytelling of Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant and the mischievous comedy of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Robin Belfield ensure that Shakespeare’s spirit of interrogation, invention and creativity is alive and well in the most exciting creative voices of today.”
Angela Thomas
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