What do you think?
Rate this book
Elephant's Graveyard
Winner of the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature Winner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award Characters: 10m, 3f, flexible casting (Roles may be played by any race or gender except when specified.) / Drama Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated Ameri
56 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2010
88 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 11, 2024
A play exploring the militant American drive for justice/revenge. Even in the reading of it, you feel like your heart drops out of your chest at this true story. Hope to do a full staging of this play sometime next year.
March 20, 2020
Brutal, Honest & Emotional
June 4, 2014
The horrible beauty of this play cannot be oversold. I saw Elephant's Graveyard at the Illinois HIgh School Theatre Festival in 2013, and I wept through probably two-thirds of the show. We're talking an ugly cry, one that shocked me once I realized what I was doing, because, really? I thought to myself, "You are bawling at a high school's production of a play that tells the story of an elephant lynching. What is your life?" I wondered if the play would have the same resonance on the page, but it turns out I needn't have worried, since the tears started flowing at about the same point in the script.
Elephant's Graveyard tells the true story of the 1916 lynching of an elephant in Erwin, Tennessee. Sparks' Circus travels the country setting up in small towns, and Mary the elephant is the show's main attraction. When Red, a brand new member of the elephant team, is inexplicably allowed to ride Mary in the opening parade over the protests of her long-time trainer, a terrible (but avoidable) accident occurs when Red mistreats and mishandles her. The townspeople clamor for "justice" and demand that Mary be killed; while owner Charlie Sparks knows the tragedy was an accident, other towns get wind of the incident and refuse to allow the circus to pitch its tent if Mary is still with them, so he is forced to acquiesce to Erwin's demands. How the lynching plays out is a masterpiece of evocative wordplay (has any sentence in the history of ever been so oddly pretentious? I submit: no). Spoiler: Obviously this is an impossible feat to stage, so all you have is the playwright's words and pacing, and boy does he make good use of them. With them, no literal staging is needed: Mary is there, Mary is hurting, Mary is dead without ever having to see an elephant on the stage one time. I can't remember a time I was able to conjure up such vivid images from words alone.
Thematically, this play is rich and dense. I'm not even entirely sure I *get* it, and this is my second time with it. The back of the book would have us believe that the play is about the American need for spectacle and violence. Sure, there's that. Or is it about the need for vengeance, as the cover also suggests? I suppose that, too, is true. The people of Erwin are ravenous for Mary's death, for her to "pay" for her crime. Red's not even from Erwin, but in the moment it doesn't matter. Frankly, he doesn't even matter: the morning of the lynching, they get dressed up in their Sunday finest and throw a picnic out at the rail yard and repeatedly remind the audience of the biblical tenet, "An eye for an eye." When they see the reality of what they've clamored for, though, they run away in horror, leaving the circus crew to deal with it. They get what they want, but with little satisfaction.
My takeaway, though, comes from this particular passage, by far my favorite in a play full of beautiful moments:
"The railyard. There's a crane there can lift 100 tons. Says so right on the side of it, right there in black and white. Nothing grey can stand up to that much black and white."
Human morality and ethics exist in those gray areas. How tragic when our zeal for spectacle, for vengeance, for immediate action of any sort overtakes our good sense, our ability to see beyond the "facts" of a situation to the heart of the matter.
Elephant's Graveyard tells the true story of the 1916 lynching of an elephant in Erwin, Tennessee. Sparks' Circus travels the country setting up in small towns, and Mary the elephant is the show's main attraction. When Red, a brand new member of the elephant team, is inexplicably allowed to ride Mary in the opening parade over the protests of her long-time trainer, a terrible (but avoidable) accident occurs when Red mistreats and mishandles her. The townspeople clamor for "justice" and demand that Mary be killed; while owner Charlie Sparks knows the tragedy was an accident, other towns get wind of the incident and refuse to allow the circus to pitch its tent if Mary is still with them, so he is forced to acquiesce to Erwin's demands. How the lynching plays out is a masterpiece of evocative wordplay (has any sentence in the history of ever been so oddly pretentious? I submit: no). Spoiler: Obviously this is an impossible feat to stage, so all you have is the playwright's words and pacing, and boy does he make good use of them. With them, no literal staging is needed: Mary is there, Mary is hurting, Mary is dead without ever having to see an elephant on the stage one time. I can't remember a time I was able to conjure up such vivid images from words alone.
Thematically, this play is rich and dense. I'm not even entirely sure I *get* it, and this is my second time with it. The back of the book would have us believe that the play is about the American need for spectacle and violence. Sure, there's that. Or is it about the need for vengeance, as the cover also suggests? I suppose that, too, is true. The people of Erwin are ravenous for Mary's death, for her to "pay" for her crime. Red's not even from Erwin, but in the moment it doesn't matter. Frankly, he doesn't even matter: the morning of the lynching, they get dressed up in their Sunday finest and throw a picnic out at the rail yard and repeatedly remind the audience of the biblical tenet, "An eye for an eye." When they see the reality of what they've clamored for, though, they run away in horror, leaving the circus crew to deal with it. They get what they want, but with little satisfaction.
My takeaway, though, comes from this particular passage, by far my favorite in a play full of beautiful moments:
"The railyard. There's a crane there can lift 100 tons. Says so right on the side of it, right there in black and white. Nothing grey can stand up to that much black and white."
Human morality and ethics exist in those gray areas. How tragic when our zeal for spectacle, for vengeance, for immediate action of any sort overtakes our good sense, our ability to see beyond the "facts" of a situation to the heart of the matter.
September 30, 2017
If you love to ugly cry, this is your book! This is a play and the cast of characters is basically every employee a circus could employ in the early 1900's. Included in the lineup was taht time peri the star of the show: Mary, one big, very lovely elephant.
The Sparks Circus WAS an actual Circus and Mary, an extremely large elephant (*just 3 inches shorter than Jumbo, the elephant that was owned and displayed by the Barnum Circus) did, in fact, exist. And, the story surrounding her fate, the fate that was encouraged by the people of Erwin, Tennessee, is also (mostly) true. Because records were often incomplete, or inaccurate, some of the details of the incident remain a little sketchy but still, the ending is sadly the same.
I love this book partly because elephants are so majestic and their feelings so closely resemble ones of humans, specifically as it deals with the grieving process. The other reason I'm drawn to this book is because I find the circus, as it existed int the 1900's, so fascinating! It's a society unto itself with it's own set of rules and justice, especially justice. ,
The Sparks Circus WAS an actual Circus and Mary, an extremely large elephant (*just 3 inches shorter than Jumbo, the elephant that was owned and displayed by the Barnum Circus) did, in fact, exist. And, the story surrounding her fate, the fate that was encouraged by the people of Erwin, Tennessee, is also (mostly) true. Because records were often incomplete, or inaccurate, some of the details of the incident remain a little sketchy but still, the ending is sadly the same.
I love this book partly because elephants are so majestic and their feelings so closely resemble ones of humans, specifically as it deals with the grieving process. The other reason I'm drawn to this book is because I find the circus, as it existed int the 1900's, so fascinating! It's a society unto itself with it's own set of rules and justice, especially justice. ,
October 28, 2020
4.5. Ya know at first I didn’t like how it was written couldn’t get into it and didn’t like how the story was being told, how action was being told and hardly any dialogue between characters—but then I got used and I ended up not minding it. I got really into the story after that and well that hurt.
December 19, 2022
This was heartbreaking. Would love to see it or be a part of a production of it.
May 15, 2023
Ugh, this was a hard read but only because of its content. Rest easy, Mary! Humans suck.
September 11, 2023
wow. this hurt to read, but it was gorgeously done, incredibly well developed characters without much time
June 1, 2024
This is a brilliantly written play. So much creativity possibility in ways to put it on. I did it for my theater Production Proposal. RIP Mary.
Read
February 11, 2025this was so sad omfg...lowkey it's giving nellie the elephant by the toy dolls but like if they continued the song
June 2, 2025
This was a tragic story, but so much emotion. How do you get such a heavy tail in only 52 pages.
August 13, 2025
hey so that was crazy. this is gonna take more than read to really grasp but i know its amazing.
November 20, 2016
Gorgeously tragic, if you want something quick and heartbreaking, read this.
October 1, 2013
I'd recommend this script to anyone in the theatre world, or anyone with the capability of reading in general. This takes place in the year 1916 and walks us through small town America with none other than Sparks travelling circus. We see the hardships of World War One, the rough life of a circus performer, the everyday life of towns people in Americas country side, and the deep and sometimes hard to understand connection between humans and animals. This play is unique due to the fact that it is a series of monologues reflecting on a tragic event. I found myself torn with emotion because the perspectives are so clear and different. Note: this truly is an emotional read, plot twists are extreme and blunt. I loved this script because of the raw factor of it all, being that it is based off of a true event. I also found hatred for this script because it had me so engulfed. It actually began influencing my moods along with the story line (this really isn't a reason to not read the book, it just touched my emotional side and I'm not an emotional person, so it made me uncomfortable.) This script without a doubt earned all five stars.
June 12, 2014
Warning: Elephant's Graveyard is a heavy show. But this play is beautiful to the bone, and It's a show everyone should read, or better yet, see. Elephant's Graveyard is heavily (and pretty accurately) based on a tragic event that took place in early 1900's that involved Mary the elephant, Sparks, and yes, Erwin, Tennessee. The show is the circus people's and Erwin's retelling of the events that took place, each with their own take on the situation (there's no official lead/main character). Also, instead of giving characters names, Brant gave each character an occupation, indicating the characters represent ideas, rather than people. And while one could say Charlie Sparks was the real ringmaster of the real Spark's World Famous Shows, the character title "Ringmaster," instead of "Sparks" was used for a reason. This show is great in displaying how loss changes people. As someone who's performed in this show before, let me say: it was an honor.
March 30, 2012
Brant's poetic examination of a circus elephant's death and the mob mentality that led to the animal's abuse and lynching is pure theatre. Reading it is joy enough, but I wish more than anything I could see this in action.
Pieced together as a series of rembrances of how a town and a circus crew allowed an act of violence and cruelty to happen, the exploration takes on the structure of a tone poem, in which the poem tells the story with minimal movement onstage, painting a clear picture in the audience's mind without needing the trappings of a circus. What results is a beautiful story about how we let the group get the best of us, and how that allows the innocent, or the animal, to suffer.
Pieced together as a series of rembrances of how a town and a circus crew allowed an act of violence and cruelty to happen, the exploration takes on the structure of a tone poem, in which the poem tells the story with minimal movement onstage, painting a clear picture in the audience's mind without needing the trappings of a circus. What results is a beautiful story about how we let the group get the best of us, and how that allows the innocent, or the animal, to suffer.
August 5, 2015
Amazing and wonderful. I love George Brant's ability to create wonderfully developed characters, effective and insightful language. The language of the play quietly lures you in and then grabs you by the lapels and urges you through a beautiful and poignant story. You see the flaws and the strengths of the characters as they struggle with their decisions and through this story which leaves you struggling with the actions of plays inhabitants. You become both observer and town inhabitant when reading this play and are left pondering the reflection of humanity and our actions as members of this world.
April 12, 2016
This was a depressing read. I suppose I should have gleaned that form the title, so that's on me. Not only was the story sad, the actual writing was. The dialogue was oddly repetitive -- clearly a stylistic choice of the authors -- which I found to be a bit boring and annoying. I suppose that he was perhaps trying to evoke the drums of a death march or some ritualistic chant, but really I just found it grating. In a live production I think I would have found it unbearable. I forced myself to finish it -- because I am not a quitter -- but I can't imagine recommending it to any one else. The author was as heavy-handed with his message as he was with his dialogue. bleh.
December 23, 2015
Interesting premise, but this is the type of play I absolutely can't stand. "Artsy" script, stereotypical speeches from characters, with no dialogue and sparse character development. I'm just not a fan of representational storytelling. (As a hypothetical example: an actor, playing a tree, comes out and says "I am a tree. I blow in the breeze for all of the townspeople to enjoy." That kind of thing). I much prefer plays that have characters who speak TO each other. I'll have to see it, but it was a slog of a read for me...
January 11, 2013
I haven't actually read the book/play however, I recently saw my school perform it. Man, this play is definitely a tearjerker. I love how the character break the fourth wall to connect to the audience. That way it makes it feel more realatable and allows the audience to see the characters/actors true emotion on the situation.
If this play ever is performed in your town, I suggest watching it.
Bring some tissues.
If this play ever is performed in your town, I suggest watching it.
Bring some tissues.
June 1, 2016
The play is a quick pick up and read. Unfortunately, for me, it was a bit too much story telling; I'm sure seeing it would be different. The characters are predictable and the end is spoiled by the title, was hoping for something a little more complex.
October 20, 2012
I was in the play. I played the Steam Shovel Operator. Reading it for the first time brought goosebumps to my arms and cheeks. Performing in it is amazing...it's emotional poetic and hard truth
August 4, 2015
This play is a powerful plea against violence, capital punishment and entertainment at all costs. Haunting, mesmerizing, and one of the most powerful short plays I know.
February 2, 2016
Profoundly sad, but well-written. WHS is performing this at One Acts this year.
January 8, 2017
This one act play is engaging, and asks important ethical questions through a historical situation.
April 25, 2018
This is an interesting tale about Mary the Elephant and how she was hung as a murderer. The play is written with a variety if characters that narrate the events. It seemed awkward at first, but it gives people many possibilities to stage it.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews