Elephant

"The men with the piano look up the narrow staircase of our little flat and they turn to Dad, light their fags, and say; 'We might have to take the windows out'."

A piano came through the sky and landed in Lylah's council flat, just for her. As she pours over the keys and sound floods into all the rooms, Lylah falls in love.

At school, Lylah can't ask questions—she's got to be good, good, good or else she'll lose her scholarship. At home she can't ask questions; her cousins say she talks weird, and her parents are distracted.

So she asks her piano: Where did you come from? Why are you here? And their shared history tumbles into the light.

Part gig, part piano lesson, part journey through Empire, Elephant is a new play from Anoushka Lucas (Afterlife, Chiaroscuro). A new Bush commission, Elephant first appeared as part of the Bush’s Protest series, a response to the murder of George Floyd.