A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Elephant Calf

Short Play, Satire/Political Satire  /  4m

Bertolt Brecht
Translated by Eric Bentley

Characters from Brecht's full-length play Man Equals Man put on a play for an audience of fellow soldiers: An elephant calf is accused of killing his own mother, and a banana tree is determined to prove his guilt in a trial moderated by the Moon as judge.

The Elephant Calf

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4m
  • Duration
    Duration
    60 minutes (1 hour)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary

Subtitled, "Or, the provability of every contention," The Elephant Calf features the characters of Man Equals Man putting on a play for an audience of fellow soldiers. In their play, an elephant calf is accused of killing his own mother, and a banana tree is determined to prove his guilt in a trial moderated by the Moon as judge.

Brecht draws upon the modern resources of comedy, the style of the music hall, the technique of film, and absurdity raised to an art - gives theatre its new Brechtian image and dimension that has loomed so large on the modern stage.

Published in The Jewish Wife & Other Short Plays.

Cast Attributes
Keywords
POLLY BAKER
URIAH SHELLEY
JESSE MAHONEY
GALY GAY (Jeraiah Jip)
SOLDIERS

Plus extras.

  • Additional Features Physical Comedy, Play w/ Music
  • Duration 60 minutes (1 hour)

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Authors

Eric Bentley

Eric Bentley was born in England in 1916, became an American citizen in 1948, in 1998 was inducted into the (American) Theatre Hall of Fame, and in 2011 won a gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Scholar, critic, teacher, performer, translator and, final ...
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Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), playwright, poet and director, was born in Augsburg, Germany in February 1898. He established himself as a playwright during the 1920s and early 1930s with plays such as Baal, Man is Man, The Threepenny Opera and The Mother. In 1933, as Hitler came ...
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