Light and dark

Morning sun on my way to work the other week

The night lights of the city from the top of Brooklyn hill last weekend

Something with lots of light and dark is a show that opened at Downstage Theatre last night, Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants. I didn't manage to see it in its first incarnation at BATS Theatre in 2009 so, having heard lots of positive things, I was intrigued to finally see it for myself. It definitely lived up to expectations. There were two performances that I particularly loved, that of an old woman and an unusual cousin. The design is also very effective and sometimes quite magical with the way it plays with shadows. There were some things introduced in the beginning that seemed to be forgotten about as the show went on (the obessive counting of one character for example) and I felt like the first half was a bit long with style weighted over substance in terms of story progression, but overall it's a great achievement by those involved and I'll be thinking twice before buying any ornamental elephants from hospice shops...