While tyrants and authoritarian rulers come ago, an important question needs to be asked: What of the people? Are the people always responsible for their fates, or is it a forgone conclusion with nothing but misery. Saadallah Wannous's famous play The Elephant! O King of Time is a scathing satire of power, authority, and voluntary servitude. It tells the story of a kingdom being terrorized by a king's elephant. The elephant runs wild, destroys homes, crushes babies, ruins lives... so one day, a decision is made that the people will appear in front of the king in his palace and demand an end to this situation. Yet once they are in front of the sovereign, will their voices remain united, or will they falter? I'll leave you to discover.
This satire isn't just of voluntary submission and authority, but also on "saying " and "doing". It is easy for us right now to send a tweet, make memes, post on Facebook, make YouTube videos criticizing others. But will we stick to our guns upon meeting those we criticize ? The Elephant here is only as strong as we make it, and using his famous style of dark humor and satire, Wannous reminds us the audience to what extent are we responsible for such elephants in our lives.