Theater: An elephant tells her story in Sanctuary Song
By Debra Durham • Jun 10th, 2008 • Category: Journalism, OtherI plan to be in Toronto later this summer, but I wish I could visit now to check out this current play, Sanctuary Song. In the play, an elephant named Sydney tells the story of her life, which seems to embody details from the lives of many elephants, but of no specific individual.
The story is about an Indonesian elephant called Sydney (soprano Xin Wang), who is poached by hunters and sold to an American circus to be trained as a dancing elephant. When her leg is injured in a ship’s fire, Sydney is sent to a zoo. Her twilight years are spent in an elephant sanctuary.
In a recent essay, I reflected on the challenges of telling animals’ stories. Though I was writing about the stories of animals who have been rescued and are in recovery, I can see how the same would apply even in the case of this play since there are still social issues at stake. The review suggests that readers are challenged to identify with Sydney and to consider the events and relationships in her life - even with being elephant.
Director Lynda Hill has gone for the poignant, and Wang’s performance as Sydney is very touching. She has a sweet expressive voice that conveys the melancholy we see on her sad face. For a singer, she moves most gracefully.
I was pleased to read that Sydney’s emotion and psychological state were apparent to the reviewer, but it concerned me that the zookeeper is described as loving and and “faithful.” Indeed, the act of holding another in captivity and the inherent power disparities in such an arrangement seem to disappear or at least to go unacknowledged. Even the language of the reviewer seems hesitant to broach the subject:
In this confined role, Crawford shows as much love and compassion as he can.
Here, the “role” is confined, rather than the elephant and the keeper is still described as charitable rather than a part of the system that keeps Sydney captive.
I am reassured by the fact that Sydney’s life journey takes her to sanctuary. This is not the fate of most elephants who are held in zoos. Other posts today deal with the death of Petal, an old matriarch who died awaiting her transfer to a larger and more suitable habitat and the story of Hansa and other elephants at Woodland Park Zoo who were honored with a vigil this weekend.
Enjoy the complete review here: Colossal performances transcend truncated narrative
Performance information:
Sanctuary Song
Theatre Direct and Tapestry
Luminato Festival
At the Berkeley Street Theatre, in Toronto on Thursday
[...] Click this link to read her thoughts on the production [...]
@Sanctuary Song: An opera for all ages -
People who have seen this post and seen the play have contacted me to *rave* about the show. If it isn’t sold out, I hope there is a run on tickets because it sounds like a must see.
Thank you so the creators and performers for using their hearts and minds and bodies to explore such a complex and emotionally charged topic. We in the US are hoping for a tour
Bravo!
I attended the event and the reason the production was focused on Solomon James and Shirley (James and Sydney in the opera) was to bring in the slavery to freedom theme in a big way, an African American leading Sydney to her freedom. And she and James did have a strong bond, something that comes through in the Urban Elephant.
At once point in the opera, there is a scene that brings up the slave auctions when Shirley is injured and sold to the Louisiana Zoo.
It was hard hitting of zoos and circuses in spite of Solomon’s relationship with Shirley which was based on truth as they were close. It was pretty amazing as this short opera (it is for kids) managed to cover Shirley’s life and capture so much about captive elephants.
I don’t think that this work glorified keepers as it was an art form focusing on an interpersonal relationship between two beings. But a few keepers out there have had a role in at least keeping their elephants sane and Shirley may have been one of them.
Thank you for posting this about the opera.
colleen
@Colleen -
Thanks for your insights, Colleen. I wish I had been in the audience with you!
Since I haven’t seen the show, my concerns about the descriptions of James the zookeeper were mostly about the language used by the reviewer. I’m glad to hear that the performance itself was sensitive to the issue and I hope the audience was, too.
In terms of using this performance to think about human-elephant relationships (or human-animal more generally), it seems important to remember that even close relationships can be unhealthy. (Some relationships between humans are a testament to that.) To my way of thinking, the more we reflect on the nature of relationships between humans and animals, in all their many forms, the better. The work of Yi-Fu Tuan in Dominance and Affection provides especially compelling explanations for why special attention to power can be so useful.
Thanks again for sharing your first-hand experience about this performance!
Debra,
I too have seen this wonderful play/opera. In no way does the performance glorify the horrid conditions in which most elephants are kept while in circuses and zoos. In her story not only is Shirley (Sydney) an example of all the hurts and inhumanity inflicted upon others by man, but she also provides an example of the strong, loving connections possible between ‘beings’, be they human or otherwise. Soloman has been honoured by all who know the story, as being the loving and supportive connection that kept Shirley sane and able to love, readying her for her final Sanctuary home. Soloman himself has been kept captive by a society that did not value him, yet he had the depth and loving soul to provide for Shirley all that he could, not the least of which was leading her to The Elephant Sanctuary.
The play is not an ‘elephant activist’ play, rather it is a broader statement on the relationships between all of us here on Earth, and a presentation on the theme of friendship and remembering and goodness, and what that means, no matter where that happens.