Presented by Strawmoddie Theatre

Directed by Alex Card

Review by Hunter King

Thursday evening, I was warmly welcomed into a packed auditorium at Pleasance Theatre to see Strawmoddie Theatre’s production of The Fifth Elephant, an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s 25th novel in the Discworld series. Upon finding my seat, it was clear that this production had a very specific audience, filled with people who clearly knew the source material, or at least had a love of Pratchett. I will admit, my perspective comes from somebody who loves sci-fi and fantasy as genres, but the only Pratchett I’ve ever indulged in is Good Omens, which has a very different tone from this show. 

The show begins with some much-needed exposition (especially since we are diving headfirst into the 25th novel) that is told initially through song. We are then introduced to several characters that fill out a large ensemble. Commander Sam Vimes (Chris Allan) and Captain Carrot, played by Alex Card, who also directed the production, lead two subplots as Ankh-Morporkians travelling to Überwald and getting sucked into a diplomatic nightmare between werewolves, vampires, and dwarves. What unfolds is nearly four hours of witty one-liners, fantastical madness, and of course… diplomacy.

I want to be clear from the beginning that this show is a great showcase of Pratchett’s humour, and is engaging throughout its full run time, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the elephant in the room: the show is far too long. As with anything, even in the theatre, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.” I cannot completely fault Strawmoddie for this, as I know the script itself must be lengthy, and it does cover what I can imagine is most of the novel, but exiting the theatre well after 11 pm did admittedly make the show less enjoyable. 

With that out of the way, there were many highlights to the show. Allan’s portrayal of Commander Vimes was well-grounded and often provided the much-needed “straight man” character to balance out all of the zany characters who surrounded him. His performance never wavered, and he constantly struck the perfect balance between sarcasm and seriousness. Also on the team of Ankh-Morporkians are Lady Sybil (Ben Blow), Cheery (Amber Lipman), Detritus (Gregor Dickie), and Inigo Skimmer (Sinclair Davis). The clear standout of this bunch, and the cast overall, is Blow as Sybil. Blow plays the lady in such an earnest way that she feels natural. His performance reminded me of Harvey Fierstein’s iconic performance in Hairspray; He didn’t need to alter his voice or change much of his physicality to play a woman. Instead, Blow was authentic and clearly brought a lot of his own personality into the character which really worked in his favour. The relationship between Vimes and Sybil was cute and felt real, which also contributed to both characters’ portrayals. 

Dickie and Lipman do a fine job of playing characters who feel ostracised for their differences as they venture into a land where they are unwelcome. Davis brings a natural slime to his portrayal of Skimmer, and could convincingly be an assassin, although the voice he was doing felt unsustainable for the character. He would continuously clear his throat after each line, which at a certain point became noticeable and then distracting. 

In the side plot, Carrot meets up with Angua (Alice Pelan) and the talking dog, Gaspode (James Cruikshank). Pelan’s portrayal of Angua is strong, but she really finds her stride in Acts Two and Three when she has emotional exchanges with and about her estranged family of werewolves. Cruikshank plays Gaspode as the comedy relief and does an excellent job puppeteering the oversized dog. Card’s Carrot is natural, unlike his hair colour, which is a vibrant orange for the production. Card finds an excellent balance of comedy and earnestness, and is one of the characters that I could actually believe was an Ankh-Morporkian rather than a portrayal of one. Rounding out the large cast are the Überwaldians: the dwarves Rhys Rhysson (Blair Flucker) and Dee (Hilary Davies); the werewolves Wolfgang (Caitlin Carter), Baron (Matthew Jebb), and Baroness (Grace Gilbert); Igor (Alan Sunter); and Lady Margolotta (Nick Thorne), the vampire. 

Thorne’s Margolotta is especially fun, playing a lovely diplomat who enjoys knitting and has sworn off drinking human blood. Thorne brings a natural energy to the stage and immediately entrances the audience. His scenes may very well have been the most engaging of the show. Sunter is committed to his performance of Igor, and gets some great laughs, especially when introducing his nephew.  Gilbert and Jebb have great chemistry as the hypersexualised werewolves. Jebb was specifically fantastic with his commitment to his dog-like physical embodiment of the Baron, and got my biggest laugh of the night with his first entrance. 

The scenes with the dwarves might be some of the slower-paced scenes of the show, specifically filled with convoluted plot points that don’t necessarily need to be as deeply explained as they are in the show. Flucker does a nice job of bringing a loving energy to the Dwarven King. Davies, on the other hand, is mostly grounded, but does lose character a few times throughout the show with stumbles and an overdramatic ending scene. 

The show is designed well overall, and for the most part costumes are very fitting for the characters and are convincing. There are a few standouts that don’t hold up, in costumer Grace Gilbert’s defense though, it is hard to make an actor look like they are made of rock. That said, the primary werewolves’ costumes are especially stunning. Angua’s costume specifically looks like it was plucked straight out of Pratchett’s novel. 

The lighting and sound of the show were mostly coherent, but the show relied heavily on the actors, as the technical elements were simple and non-distracting (aside from a few very loud sound effects). Meanwhile, the set was a bit more distracting. Unfortunately, the curtains that were used as different backdrops were very loud and could often be heard as they were changed from scene to scene. Other set elements were almost too simplistic, like using two plastic Christmas trees as a stand-in for the forest, which looked out of place, and would probably be better suited in someone’s living room this holiday season. 

One element of the show that I struggled to grasp was its coherence. The overall plot was well explained and the background of Pratchett’s fantasy world made sense, but at times it felt like the show was having an identity crisis. The ebb and flow between a cheeky comedy and full-blown pantomime felt unnatural, and especially made moments that focused more on lore or heightened emotion feel out of place. I think some moments that admittedly get a laugh from me, such as the use of an IKEA bag, Santa talking about stealing from the Louvre, or the continuous weird Christmas carols, also broke the immersion for me. Moments like these made me check the clock, just to see the show was running extremely long.

With all of this in mind, the show was still definitely enjoyable, and it was clear that the Pratchetteers in the audience were loving every minute. It is clear that the cast and crew are major fans of Pratchett’s work, and they did justice to the story. While I hope that the next show Strawmoddie does has a more modest run time, I do anticipate that the company will continue to do great things, and I look forward to their upcoming production of Crimes of the Heart. Strawmoddie has brought a sense of fantastical whimsy to the stage and a clear passion that makes the show enjoyable, so if you are any kind of a fantasy fan or love the works of Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant may just be for you.

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