The Elephant's Trumpeting

The incessant noise, smell and confusion of animals gives way to a circus inhabited only by humans. Humans take back their space and the spectacular nature of the show. This is the Roncalli Circus, a timeless circus, a theatre of Europe’s best performers. We are in Frankfurt, Germany, although inside the big top we could be anywhere. The outside, however, is different from the usual; the cages are missing. The performers’ caravans hold sway, magical clowns, become men in search of a lost identity, dancers and acrobats are constantly warming up, and children try to imitate the feats of their parents.

The animals are not there, yet as the show begins, a sound echoes in the total darkness of the big top. It is the elephant’s trumpeting. So out of nowhere there it is, in front of everyone, an elephant, in all its majesty, introducing us to the show.

It is a hologram and it comes to life together thanks to no less than 11 projectors positioned around the stage. They project onto a net, physical, which for each performance is hoisted up and then as if by magic disappears. Thanks to her, horses, birds and woods come to life. The elephant takes center stage, becoming a true symbol of the circus. By now, the use of animals in circus performances is banned in most parts of the world. The Roncalli was the first in Europe to eliminate them from its show, providing from 2019 an alternative, which has already been taken up by a great many other circuses.

“The Elephant’s Trumpeting” is a work that aims to emphasize how it is possible to make entertainment without the spectacularity of the exotic animal. The circus is man-made art. The suffering of the animals behind bars, gives way to an almost unreal silence, interrupted only by the ever-changing human presence. The darkness of the big top glows with a thousand colors, songs played live take us back to a magical, timeless world. And it is precisely because of that magic that one is still able to live with children’s dreams and see, even where there really isn’t one, an elephant, caress it, and understand that in the end it takes very little to prevent yet another unnecessary suffering.