So we have a lass from a rural Indian village leaving home to see the world. But the map is from 2016 and is 50 years old. Interesting concept!

Very. And this production contrasted interestingly with Love N Stuff from last week. There's the obvious Indian connection, but in some ways Indian Ink were faced with the opposite challenge to Prayas. Love N Stuff was a potentially claustrophobic story which they'd breathed air into by using all the fascinating little side-stories. The Elephant Thief is a huge, expansive quest tale, compressed cleverly into a small set and running time. Both companies rose to their respective challenges beautifully.

 
I agree about the minimal-ism for maximum impact. The set was literally rectangular sheets dangling from the ceiling and a couple of bits of triangular metal. But we were taken to camp sites, government buildings, a jail, a palace, all sorts! And it looked so fragile and flimsy - you could see right through it at times for these wonderful shadow-play scenes. But it must have been made of sterling stuff because the whole thing moved around, it got shot at, it got blown up, it had elephants rampaging through it…

Yes I loved how we initially met some cast members as shadows before they fully arrived both onstage and into the main narrative. That clever set was used to great effect, transporting us through the Indian landscape and beyond.
 

Seriously - for a small cast in a papier mâché set, this play has everything! Goddesses, Star Trek references, political satire, international crime rings, live music, a live elephant…

Are you sure it was a live elephant?

Pretty sure! Well there was definitely a live band, another Indian Ink trade mark, I believe? There seemed to be several musicians on or to the side of the stage at any time, but I only saw Adam Ogle mentioned in the programme. And David Ward is the composer and musical director.

They were great! Very cool distorted electric guitar mood music. I can imagine music like this in 50 years' time.

The writers gave us a fabulous vision of the future. And not so much a gentle "what if?" ponder, as a full-on "Look out! This could happen! Watch it!". It's packed with messages, warnings, examinations of human frailties - so many questions, so many propositions.

Seriously, the whole concept would make a great sci-fi post-crash miniseries. TVNZ - check out this opportunity! And we certainly got our money's worth out of the actors, that's for sure. Two leads, and then three souls playing the other 10-12 characters.

Plus the elephant.

I strongly suspect it may have been a large model of an elephant's head with a person inside it. 

Still not convinced. And the scavengers! I loved the way a scene ended and then these ragged creatures sidled out of the shadows and 'steal' anything that isn't nailed down…

Yes, it really added to the atmosphere to have the scene shifters woven into the 'post-apocalyptic' world of the play. Clever too.

 
Another thing the play 'messed with' was audience participation. It seemed like this happened randomly and out of the blue, generally when the audience wasn’t expecting it. So people either didn’t respond or responded clumsily, which the actors were able to play on in all sorts of ways. But it's all part of a clever lead up to what happens towards the end - nicely done… there's so much about this play that's clever and crafted.

But what was with those teeth!? It seemed an unnecessary farcical element in an already witty, playful narrative with entertaining characters. I felt the same way about the caricature foreign accents, although this might have been a wry sideswipe at the way Indian accents are hammed up in Western productions.

Yeah - hard to know if this was deliberately being played up or a bit of a faux pas on the part of the creators. But you're right, for a story with a lot of serious things to say, there was a lovely playfulness about it. The humour ranged from subtle to sardonic to the lowest level of punning. I mean the brochure advertises it with: “Enjoy all the theatrical magic, mischievous wit and inspired lunacy you’ve come to expect along with some mammoth surprises.”

And there wasn't even a mammoth in it!

There was a real elephant tho.

OK Val, shut up about the elephant now. Go and see this play when it comes back on tour!