An Elephant in the Garden (Oberon Modern Plays)
Confined to her nursing home bed, 82-year-old Lizzie tells an outrageous but true story to Karl and his mother. While awaiting the return of Papi from World War II, 16-year-old Lizzie, her young brother, Karli, and her mother make their garden home to a four-year-old orphaned elephant from the zoo. Dresden, Germany, is sure to be bombed, and the zoo will be forced to kill the larger animals that may pose a threat to the city. Marlene, the adored elephant, breaks loose, beginning a chase that leads them away from Dresden and saves them from warfare. Lizzie's story is laced with details that bring history to life.
Description
An Elephant in the Garden is Simon Reade's new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's best-selling children's novel.
1945. Dresden, Germany. Lizzie, her mother - and an elephant from the zoo, flee the Allied fire-bombing in the end-game of the Second World War.
Escaping the Allies' advance from the West - and also the advancing Russian armies from the East - this extraordinary trio of refugees meet: a downed RAF officer, cowering in a barn; a homeless school choir on the run and their Countess saviour, harbouring them from the Nazis; and the mechanised American cavalry, appearing over the horizon.
It is Lizzie's story - but Marlene, the elephant, is the heroine. Plodding, obdurate, opportunistic, loadbearing, indestructible, cheering - Marlene embodies the stubbornness of the human will and how it will do everything to survive.