First glimpse of pachyderm star of The Magician's Elephant at the RSC

AN elephant was on patrol last week as the RSC continued to get into the swing with its new musical, The Magician’s Elephant.

The production had been due to open on 14th October but was delayed due to staff and the acting company catching Covid or having to self-isolate. The first night will now be on Monday (18th October). And press night has moved from the 26th to 28th October.

The Herald was invited to take some sneaky peek of the elephant at the centre of the production – but we were asked not to reveal the full magnificence of the pachyderm, keeping theatre-goers in suspense for the moment when they first clap eyes on her.

You’ll have to trust us when we say it is reminiscent of War Horse – a sort of anatomically faithful but deconstructed beast that is convincingly believable. And when the three actors clamber inside they bring it to life in quite a magical way.

How you make an elephant come to life was the task of a team of puppeteers headed up by Mervyn Millar. He said: “The key moment will happen when we have an audience because that’s when the elephant really lives; when it’s connected with the music and the staging and everyone – that’s the bit I’m most looking forward to.”

See this week's Herald for our interview with Magician's Elephant actor Forbes Masson.

Buy tickets to The Magician's Elephant here